SURAJ PARKASH Vs. STATE OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Four persons, Kalu Ram, Suraj Parkash, Shukal Chand and Sohan Lal were charged under section 302/120-B I.P.C. for committing murder of one Kishan Sahai. Sohan Lal was acquitted while the appellants were convicted under sections 302 and 120-B I.P.C. They were sentenced to life imprisonment under section 302 I.P.C. No separate sentence was recorded under section 120-B I.P.C.

(2.) The facts are as under: On 2.10.80 at 10.45 a.m. Des Raj P.W. 13 Station Master Tilak Bridge informed police station Railways, New Delhi, that a dead body was lying on the railway track between Tilak Bridge and Sahibabad between k.m. 7/10 and 7/31 about 2 k.m. ahead of Phatak No. 2 and that the person appeared to have been run over by some train. A.S.I. Khem Chand P.W. 18 was given a copy of the D.D. He went on spot and noticed the trunk of the dead body lying inside the track and the remaining portion was lying at a distance of 30 to 35 paces. He also noticed stab injuries on the dead body. He therefore caned Inspector Randir Singh S.H.O. P.W. 49. On inspection of the dead body and the spot, Inspector got an, F.I.R. under section 302 I.P.C. recorded. The clothes that were worn by the deceased were taken into possession as they bore the cut marks. The dead body could not be identified and its photograph was taken. The dead body was sent for autopsy which was conducted by Dr. Bharat Singh P.W. 31 who opined that the injuries 1 to 8 noticed on the person of the deceased were ante-mortem while the other injuries could be possible by being run over by a train. Postmortem was conducted on 3.10.80 at 4 p.m. Time since death was 40 hours corresponding to the time of incident. During the night intervening 27/28th October, 1980 Kalu Ram, Suraj Parkash and others were arrested by S.I. Ravi Dutt of Special Staff East District under section 3991 402 I.P.C. in F.I.R. No. 470/80 of police station Kalyanpuri. They all were interrogated and their disclosure statements recorded. These revealed that the appellants committed the murder of Kishan Sahai brother of Sohan Lal of village Biana, District Ghaziabad near the railway line near Anand Vihar and that they were paid Rs. 2000/- for committing this murder by Sohan Lal. They further disclosed that their washed clothes were available at their houses. It was also revealed that the knife used in the commission of this crime was lying with Shukal Chand. This information was communicated to P/S Railways. On the same day the P/S Railways obtained the custody of Suraj Parkash and Kalu Ram appellants together with their disclosure statements. On the same day appellant Kalu Ram got his pant and bushirt recovered from his house. Suraj Parkash appellant also got recovered one pant and one baniyan from his house. These were seized by Inspector Ranbir Singh P.W. 49. On 29.10.80 Shukal Chand appellant was arrested in this case and on 30.10 80 he made a disclosure statement in pursuance of which he got a knife recovered from a well near I.S.I. Colony, Karkar Duma. During the course of investigation S.I. Ishwar Singh P.W. 46 went to Village Biana where the photograph of the dead body was identified as that of Kishan Sahai by PW5. Laxmi Narain, P.W. 5, Hemant Singh P.W. 36, Dhal Chand P.W. 38, and Khazani P.W. 9 widow of the deceased. It was also revealed that the deceased was working with Laxmi Narain P.W. 5 and had been taken away by Kalu appellant after informing him that he was wanted by Sohan Lal. it was also revealed that Sohan Lal asked both Laxmi Narain P. W. 5 and Risal Singh P.W. 6 to lend him Rs. 2,000/-. It was also found that Kishan Sahai owned 6/7 bigas of land which was earlier being cultivated by Sohan Lal but later on it was given for cultivation to Jai Parkash and Balwant Singh P. Ws. 30 and 29. It was also revealed that on 3.10.80 Sohan Lal took a loan of Rs. 1500/- feom Kanti Pd. P. W. 11 against one silver Tagri and one Hush and Kanti Pd. P.W. 11 in turn had got this money from Yatender Kumar P.W. 7. In pursuance of a disclosure statement of Sohan Lal receipt for pawning these articles was taken into possession from Kanti Pd. P.W. ii. During the investigation of the case P.W. 10 Bachu Ram was examined. His statement revealed that on 1.10.80 the appellants alongwith the deceased came to his house at about 8.00 p.m. and after taking liquor they went by saying that they will come back after leaving the deceased at Gazipur. He further stated that thereafter the appellant returned to his house without the deceased. Dr. Davinder Kumar Arora P.W. 12 revealed that on the same night Kalu and Suraj Parkash appellants came to his clinic between 9.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. in a drunken state and he dressed the two wounds of Kalu which he had sustained in one leg. On completion of the investigation a charge sheet was filed against the appellants and Sohan Lal to the effect that they murdered the deceased in pursuance of a conspiracy the object of which was to liquidate the deceased and to enable Sohan lal to grab the land belonging to the deceased. Sohan Lal has since been acquitted and we are not concerned with him. The prosecution in this case has examined a large number of witnesses but in our view it is not necessary to make reference to the whole of it. We will only refer to that much of evidence which is relevant for the disposal of these two appeals and would also examine the contentions raised by Bawa Gurcharan Singh the learned counsel for the appellants in the light of evidence and circumstances of this case.

(3.) We do not propose to refer to the testimony of autopsy surgeon P.W. 31 Dr. Bharat Singh as neither the cause of death nor the nature and number of injuries nor the nature of weapon used are in dispute. All that is in dispute is whether the appellants are involved in the commission of this crime. Let us, therefore, examine the relevant evidence.