VIJAY SINGH Vs. STATE NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been preferred in terms of Sec. 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ['Cr.P.C.'], assailing the judgment dtd. 12/7/2018 passed by the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge-02, South Saket Court, New Delhi ['Trial Court'] whereby the appellant (hereinafter referred as 'A-1') has been convicted under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ['IPC'], followed by impugned order on sentence dtd. 22/2/2024 whereby A-1 has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a sum of Rs.25,000.00 as fine, in default of which he shall further undergo one year simple imprisonment. Further, under Sec. 364/34 IPC A-1 is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and to pay fine of Rs.25,000.00 in default of which, he shall further undergo 06 months simple imprisonment, under Sec. 365/34 IPC sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 05 years and to pay fine of Rs.10,000.00, in default of which, he shall further undergo 06 months simple imprisonment and under Sec. 201/34 IPC sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 03 years and to pay fine of Rs.7,000.00, in default of which, he shall further undergo 02 months simple imprisonment.

(2.) It is pertinent to mention here that the co-accused Vikram @ Manoj (hereinafter referred as 'A-2') was also convicted vide the same impugned judgment dtd. 12/7/2018 for the same set of offences and sentenced in the same manner as A-1. A-2 earlier filed a criminal appeal bearing CRL.A. 968/2018, which came to be dismissed by a co-ordinate bench of this court vide judgment dtd. 23/12/2022 and thereby upholding the impugned conviction and order on sentence passed by the learned Trial Court.

(3.) In a nutshell, the prosecution case brought out during the trial is that on 26/5/2011 at around 10:30 p.m., a missing report vide DD No.62-B (Ex.PW-2/DB) was registered at PS 'Police Station' Vasant Kunj (North) on the complaint of PW-2/Baljit Singh, who reported that his father Raghuvir Singh (deceased) aged around 62 years had left home at 8:00 am as per daily routine and had gone to their plot bearing No.150A/9, Kishangarh, Delhi but had not returned home. He further stated that his mother was also there with his father but around 10:00 am his father was conversing with a man who had arrived in a long/big vehicle of yellow colour and was taken by him in the car which was being driven by another person.