BALWANT SINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against a judgment of Shri K S. Aggarwal, Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi. Four persons including the present appellants were charged in respect of commission of officers punishable under section 392 read with section 397 JPC. He convicted eachof the appellants for an offence punishable under section 392 read with section34 Indian Penal Code and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for tenyears and a fine of Rs. 100.00 in default of payment of which fine, he had toundergo further rigorous imprisonment for one month. Hukam Chand coaccused was acquitted while the remaining co-accused Hari Siagh was convictedin respect of commission of an offence punishable under section 411 JPC andwas awarded sentence of imprisonment already undergone and a fine ofRs. 100.00 in default of payment of which he had to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months.

(2.) The case of the prosecution briefly is as follows. On 19/12/1981, Uma Nath Sharma (PW 6) was working with M/s. Green Carriers &Contractors Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company) as a deliveryclerk at G-68, Boulevard Road, Delhi. On that day, Hari Prakash (PW 3)who was a cashier in the said company, collected Rs. 2,500.00 from variouscustomers as transport charges. He gave that amount to Uma Nath Sharmafor depositing the same with office of the company at Naya Bazar. On thesame day, Dalip Kumar (PW 1) who was also working as a cashier in thesame company gave Rs. 9.000.00 to Uma Nath Sharma for depositing the samein the office of that company at Mori Gate. He (Dalip Kumar) also gavefive cheques issued in the name of B.S. Jain Enterprises and GL Internationals,aggregating to Rs. 1.418.00 for depositing the same with the bank. On thatday, Som Nath (PW 4) who was working as an unloading clerk in the companyprepared astatement in respect of unloading of five trucks and gave the sameto Uma Nath Sharma, Raghbir Singh (PW 5) who was in charge of deliveryoffice of the company prepared a voucher Ex. Public Witness 5/A of. conveyance andgave the same to Uma Nath Sharma for obtaining signatures of the ownerwith respect to the same. The net result was that Uma Nath had a cash ofRs.11,500.00,five cheques, on voucher Ex. Public Witness 5/A and another voucherEx. Public Witness 4/A. With the aforesaid cash and articles contained in a brown bagEx.P1 ,he started at about 1.45 p.m. from his office. When he was nearKothi No. 4. Boulevard Road, Delhi, the four accused met him. Hari Singhand the appellant Radha Raman were on a bicycle while Balwant Singhappellant and Hukam Chand were on foot. Hukam Chand was carrying aknife and be placed the same on the chest of Uma Nath Sharma. The personswith the bicycle snetched the bag and went away towards Tis Hazari Courts.Uma Nath Sharma could not raise any alarm because on the point of knife,he was prohibited to do so by Hukam Chand. Balwant Singh appellant rantowards St. Stephen Hospital which was nearby. Uma Nath Sharma chased.and was able to catch hold of Balwant Singh. Uma Nath Sharma broughtBalwant Singh to police post Tis Hazari from where both were taken to PoliceStation Civil Lines where Uma Nath signed a report recorded in the dailydiary. As the place of occurrence happened to be within the jurisdiction of Police Station Subzimandi, both Balwant Singh and Uma Nath Sharma werebrought to that police station.

(3.) The investigation was taken over by SI Ved Prakash Kohli (PW 12).During interrogation, Balwant Singh disclosed the names of his accomplices.On 24/12/1981 along with Som Nath (PW 2) and Ram Prakash(PW 8) he (PW 12) went to Rain Basera at Old Rohtak Road. Radha Ramanappellant, Hukam Chand and Hari Singh were coming from the side ofKishan Ganj and they were arrested at about 7.50 p.m. On search of HukamChand, a knife was recovered. On search of the person of Radha Ramanappellant, a country made revolver was recovered. On search of the personof Hari Singh one country made revolver with five cartridges were recovered.