PRABHAT UPPAL Vs. STATE OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Crl. A. No. 477/2000 seeks to challenge the judgment of Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi in Sessions Case No.73/97 whereby the learned Judge vide judgment and order dated 18/7/2000 has held the appellant guilty under Section 302, IPC and further vide his order dated 21/7/2000, sentenced the appellant to undergo life imprisonment and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000.00 and in default to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months under Section 302, IPC.

(2.) Brief facts of the case as have been noted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge in his judgment are as follows:

(3.) Prosecution in order to establish its case, examined as many as 32 witnesses. Of these, PW 1 HC Kali Ram is the photographer who photographed the spot where the dead body of a female was lying. PW 2 HC Naresh Pal was a Duty Officer at P.S. Karol Bagh, who received the information from PCR that a woman was found dead in the morning in H. No. 9A/17, WEA Karol Bagh. PW 3 ASI Prem Pal, Duty Officer deposed that he had received rukka sent by SHO, Karol Bagh through Constable Subhash, on the basis of which he recorded FIR Ex. PW3/A. He also proved DDNo. 9A Ex. PW3/B which was the information received from RML Hospital regarding the admission of Prabhat Uppal. PW 4 Surjit Kumar Chadha is the father of Shama (deceased) and deposes to the effect that on 20.4.1988, Prabhat Uppal along with Shama came to Delhi and stayed at Karoi Bagh. Thereafter, Prabhat left for Muzzafarpur and his daughter Shama continued to stay at his house. This witness deposes as to the movements of Prabhat Uppal and states that on 30.6.1988, Prabhat Uppal went to Karol Bagh and thereafter left for Haridwar. After two or three days, he came back and on 5.8.1988, this witness received a phone call from Pramod Uppal that Prabhat was lying unconscious. The witness along with his wife and family doctor went to the house of Pramod Uppal in Karol Bagh from where it was revealed that Prabhat Uppal had consumed some drug and became unconscious. On 16.8.1988, Prabhat Uppal took Shama to Karol Bagh on the pretext that they were going to Muzzafarpur on the next day. On 17.8.1988 at about 7 a.m., Pramod Uppal informed this witness on telephone that his daughter had been killed and Prabhat Upal was lying unconscious. The witness along with his wife, son and family doctor went to the house of Pramod Uppal in Karol Bagh and found that Prabhat Uppal was lying unconscious and his daughter was dead. The doctor examined both of them. Prabhat Uppal was removed to the hospital. The witness deposed that from brief-case P-15 in the room, three letters were found written by Prabhat Uppal. He proved these letters P-16, 17 and 18. One diary belonging to Prabhat was also recovered as P-19. The brief-case was seized vide memo Ex. PW 4/A. One pillow cover P-21, Tik-20 cover P-22 and 23, their empty bottles P-24 and 25 were also seized vide memo Ex. PW 4/B. He also stated that on 21.8.1988, he handed over the letter P-26, written and signed by Prabhat to him to the police and the same was seized vide memo Ex. PW 4/C. PW 5 Smt. Janak Chadha is the mother of the deceased Shama and has deposed on the lines of her husband, PW 4. PW 6 Ashok Chadha, uncle of the deceased deposed that on 17.8.1988 he received information and reached H. No. 9-A/17, WEA, Karol Bagh and found Shama lying dead. He identified the dead body of Shama after the postmortem and received the dead body vide Ex. PW 6/A. PW 8 Dr. Pramod Kumar Sharma corroborates PW 4 that when they reached house of the accused Shama was found lying dead while the accused was lying unconscious. PW 16 Sh. D.P. Dwivedi was the Executive Magistrate who reached RML Hospital for recording the statement of Prabhat Uppal. He recorded the statement Ex. PW 16/A. PW 18 Dr. L.T. Ramani conducted the post-mortem on the body of Shama and found the following external injuries: