NAVEZ Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Connected with this appeal are Criminal Appeal No. 244/85 Munna v. Stale, Criminal Appeal No. 260/85 Prakash Lal v. State, Criminal Appeal No. 114/86 Ravinder Kumar v. State. Since all the appellants have been convicted and sentenced in respect of the same incident, this order will dispose of all the four appeals. The appellants were convicted under section 302/34 Indian Penal Code . and under section 392/34 Indian Penal Code . and were respectively sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years. Both the sentences were, however, made to run concurrently.

(2.) We may briefly state the facts, the prosecution case is that on 14th of August 1983 one Brij Lal, father of Surinder Kumar, who lodged the first information report, was done to death by strangulation at the terrace of his quarter No. 61A, Kamla Market. The deceased, according to the prosecution, was living in this quarter alongwith his servant Dubai and the wife of his servant Mst. Muni. The information regarding the murder of the deceased Brij Lal was conveyed to Surinder Kumar on 14th of August 1983 on telephone which was to the effect, that his father Brij Lal was lying dead on the cot. On this he rushed to the place of the incident and found the deceased lying on the bed covered under a bed sheet. He removed the bed sheet and found various injurs on the person of the deceased who was lying dead. He, therefore, went to the police station and made a report which we may reproduce as under :

(3.) Before we proceed further, it is necessary to take notice of the fact as to what was the story in existence on 14th of August 1983 even at the time when the inquest report was sent. The brief facts sent with the inquest read as under :