STATE Vs. GURPAL SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from the judgment of acquittal passed by Mr. R.K. Gauba, Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi in the case cf FIR No. 130/85 GRP Jaipur which was subsequently also registered as RC No. 9/85-CIU(P). Although the incident, on which FIR was registered, took place at Jaipur the trial was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court on an application of the accused-respondent.

(2.) The facts as disclosed in the charge-sheet submitted by the CBI, who eventually took over the investigation, can be narrated, sans details, as under: On 24.11.1985 at about 10.15 p.m. a dead body was noticed near Ajmer Pulia on the railway track in Jaipur by two Gangman at Jaipur Railway Station. A 'Marg' at serial No. 35/85 was registered at police station GRP, Jaipur. From a card recovered from the body the same was suspected to be of Suresh Chand Gupta, Advocate. It was so identified by his relatives. Inquest report was prepared at 8.00 a.m. on 25.11.1985. A post-mortem examination was conducted on the same day. Later a medical board was constituted for conducting a fresh post-mortem and a second postmortem was conducted on 26.11.1985 by Dr. P.P.S. Mathur and Dr. B.M.Gupta. All the injuries on the body of the deceased were found to be antemortem. Blood-stained earth and other material suspected to be containing human blood was collected from the spot on 25.11.1985. The local bar, of which Suresh Chand Gupta was a member, raised an agitation in the matter suspecting some foul play in the death of Suresh Chand Gupta and, therefore, the 'Marg' inquiry was transferred to CID, Jaipur, who collected further material containing blood stains from the wall and pillar adjacent to the place of occurrence. On 11.12.85, i.e., twenty days after the incident, a written complaint by the wife of the deceased alleging murder of the deceased by accused Gurpal Singh was also received. Gurpal Singh, a Munsif Judicial Magistrate, who at the relevant point was posted in Jaipur is said to have been a close friend of Suresh Chand Gupta. She alleged in the complaint that her husband had told her about three months back that the accused had demanded a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- to get him appointed a member of Board of Revenue by exercising his influence with the highups. Her husband had arranged for the sum by selling a plot of land and by borrowing money from her father and other relatives. She further alleged that her husband had further withdrawn a sum of Rs.20,000/- from their savings as the accused wanted another sum of Rs.50,000/- and gave the money to him. According to the complainant the accused started evading the demand for return of the money when the appointment did not come through. She further alleged that on the insistence of her husband for return of the money, the accused had agreed to return the money and on 24.11.85 her husband had left his house at about 5 p.m. to meet the accused but did not return. She concluded that the accused had killed her husband on account of the dispute over money. The investigation reports that the deceased and the accused were seen together at Rajhans Rest House, Station Road, Jaipur on 24.11.1985 at 7.30 p.m. They allegedly visited the office of M/s. Build Meco Pvt. Ltd. at 2, Hathroi, Ajmer Road, Jaipur which is the office of property dealers of Ramesh Chand Sharma and Deepak Sharma. Leaving the scooter of the deceased at the Ajmer Road, the two allegedly proceeded on foot towards Ajmer Pulia by a sideroad. The investigation finds that the accused brought the deceased in the corner formed by the pillar and the diagonal wall of the Ajmer Pulia towards the Jaipur Railway Station on the pretext that while he was urinating he lost his keys. The corner is an isolated place where the accused hit the deceased with a heavy stone on his head and face which caused grievous injuries on the head, skull, brain and face of the deceased. From these injuries blood oozed profusely and fell on the ground and splashed over the pillar, diagonal wall, pole and inner corner formed by the pillar and wall of the overbridge. The blood that fell on the ground formed a small pool in the said corner which is at a distance of 262 cms. from the railway track. Thereafter the body of the deceased was dragged by the accused Gurpal Singh towards the railway track with the legs of the deceased inside the track and body outside.

(3.) The charge-sheet further narrates that Nihal Chand Goel, the father-in-law of the deceased, who was in the know of the money transaction between the deceased and the accused, along with two or three other persons visited the accused in his Court chamber on 28.11.1985 and the accused accepted to having taken the money from the deceased and promised to return the same shortly. Nihal Chand Goel with the other persons again visited the accused in his Court chamber on 2.12.1985 when again the promise was reiterated. On 5.12.1985, the accused appeared at the residence of the deceased and returned the money to Nihal Chand Goel. This money was handed over to the investigating officer of CBI on the first encounter of Nihal Chand Goel with the investigating officer. The investigation also alleges that the accused had kept Rs. 85,000/- with his friend Dr. Anand Parkash Verma from 28.10.1985, which was later withdrawn on 1.12.1985 when the money was entrusted to Shri Radha Mohan Soni till 4.12.1985. The conclusion of the investigation from the above facts is that the accused murdered Suresh Chand Gupta and thereafter threw him on the railway track so as to eliminate all evidence of the crime.