PREMPAL Vs. STATE OF U. P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is against the judgment and order dtd. 4/3/2016 passed by the Special Judge (Dacoity Affected Areas)/Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.3, Farrukhabad in S.S.T. No.37 of 2015 (arising out of case crime no.553 of 2014, P.S. Kayamganj, district Farrukhabad) connected with (i) S.T. No.135 of 2015 (arising out of Case Crime No.562 of 2014, P.S. Kayamganj, district Farrukhabad); (ii) S.T. 136 of 2015 (arising out of Case Crime No.563 of 2014, P.S. Kayamganj, district Farrukhabad); and (iii) S.T. No.137 of 2015 (arising out of Case Crime No.565 of 2014, P.S. Kayamganj, district Farrukhabad), whereby the appellants Prem Pal, Sipahi Lal and Omveer have been convicted under Ss. 364-A/120-B and 368 IPC in connection with Case Crime No.553 of 2015 (supra) and, in addition to above, Prem Pal and Omveer have also been convicted under Sec. 25 of the Arms Act in connection with Case Crime Nos.563 of 2014 and 565 of 2014 (supra), respectively. Sipahi Lal, Prem Pal and Omveer have been sentenced as follows:- Imprisonment for life as well as fine of Rs.20,000.00 to each of the three, coupled with a default sentence of two years, under Sec. 364-A read with Sec. 120-B IPC; and 7 years R.I. as well as fine of Rs.10,000.00 to each of the three, coupled with a sentence of two years, under Sec. 368 IPC. Whereas, Prem Pal and Omveer have also been sentenced to imprisonment of three years R.I. as well as fine of Rs.5,000.00, coupled with a sentence of two years each, under Sec. 25 of the Arms Act. All sentences to run concurrently. As all these appellants were in jail during the course of trial, it was observed that the time spent in jail by the appellants shall be counted/adjusted against the sentence awarded.

(2.) In S.S.T. No.37 of 2015, seven persons, namely, Sipahi Lal (appellant no.2), Prem Pal (appellant no.1), Omveer (appellant no.3), Ramu alias Raju, Ram Kishore, Smt. Malti and Smt. Santoshi were tried in connection with Case Crime No.553 of 2014 (supra). Out of those seven persons, four, namely, Ramu alias Raju, Ram Kishore, Smt. Malti and Smt. Santoshi, were acquitted. Whereas, in S.T. No.135 of 2014, arising out of Case Crime No.562 of 2014 (supra), four persons, namely, Prem Pal (appellant no.1), Ram Kishore, Ramu alias Raju and Omveer (appellant no.3) were tried. All four were acquitted. This appeal, therefore, is confined to the judgment and order of conviction of the appellants to the extent indicated above in S.T. No.37 of 2015, arising out of Case Crime No.553 of 2014 (supra); S.T. No.136 of 2015, arising out of Case Crime No.563 of 2014 (supra); and S.T. No.137 of 2015, arising out of Case Crime No.565 of 2014( supra).

(3.) On 12/12/2014, at 12.30 hours, Chheda Khan (PW-1) submitted a written missing report (Ex. Ka-1) alleging that in the night of 11/12/12/2014 his son Salman and Kunwarpal son of Siyaram, at about 2 am, had gone to village Amaliya Mukeri on their tractor but they did not return. (Note: Kunwarpal is real brother of Prempalappellant no.1). A GD entry of the missing report was made vide Report No.27 (Ex. Ka-2), at P.S. Kayamganj, district Farrukhabad. On 15/12/2014 information was given by PW-1 that his son (Salman) and Kunwarpal appear to have been abducted. Consequently, vide GD Entry No.45, at 17.45 hours, the missing report was converted into Case Crime No.553 of 2014 under Sec. 364 IPC. On 16/12/2014, investigating officer (I.O.) Meghnath Singh - PW-6 recorded the statement of Chheda Khan (PW-1) and on his instructions prepared a site plan (Ex. Ka-6) of the place from where the two missing persons were allegedly abducted. The I.O. also recorded the statement of Rajeev (not examined) and Subhash Chandra (not examined) and went to village Amaliya Mukeri where he recorded statement of Master Janmajay Singh (not examined) and his son Dhananjay Singh (not examined) and also enquired from Prempal (the appellant no.1) and obtained his phone number. On 21/12/2014, the I.O. with his fellow Sub-Inspector, Ravindra Kumar (not examined) and Constables Awadhesh Kumar (not examined), Sunil Kumar (not examined) and Shadab (not examined) left the police station in a private vehicle with government issued weapons to investigate the case in respect whereof entry was made in the general diary vide Report No.20, at 10.35 hours (morning). When the police party reached industrial area Papri, they met Chheda Khan (PW-1) and Rajesh Kumar son of Agya Ram (not examined). These two witnesses informed the police party that they have been required to arrange for ransom amount of twenty lacs (ten lacs each for release of Salman and Kunwarpal). They also informed the police party that they suspect Prempal (appellant no.1) and his family members of cheating them. Apart from that they also informed the police party that they are poor persons and are not in a position to arrange the ransom money. On getting this information, PW-6 (I.O.) contacted Brijesh Kumar Yadav (PW-7) i.e. incharge SWAT. The SWAT team headed by PW-7 arrived and a plan was hatched to trap/arrest the abductors. As per the plan, two wads of plain papers, with currency notes of Rs.1,000.00 denomination at the top and at the bottom, were prepared so as to pass off as two bundles of notes of Rs.1.00 lac each. After preparing these wads of notes they were handed over to Chheda Khan (PW-1) and Rajesh Kumar to proceed to the designated spot to trap the abductors. According to the prosecution case, the police team along with SWAT lied in ambush awaiting arrival of ransom money collector; after 10-15 minutes, a person arrived there, took the two wads of notes from Chheda Khan (PW-1) and started to count them; on being satisfied that that person had arrived to collect the ransom money, the team, lying in ambush, emerged and arrested that man with two wads of notes; on interrogation, that person disclosed his name as Sipahi Lal (appellant no.2); on further probe, it was found that Samsung mobile instrument IMEI No.356126054535450 used by Salman for no.9616681877, which was on surveillance, had been used by Sipahi Lal's No.8853359413 and from that number, on 15/12/2014, call of 174 seconds was made on No.9026053760 at 18:27:59. When Sipahi Lal was interrogated in respect of No.9026053760, he informed that Prempal has used this number to call him (Sipahi Lal). The team thought that as Salman's mobile had been missing since the date of his abduction, the abduction must have been planned by Prempal and, therefore, he got his brother Kunwarwal abducted to mask the entire operation. On further interrogation, Sipahi Lal told the police team that Prempal had planned the abduction of Salman along with his brother Kunwarpal, Ram Kishore, Ram Kishore's wife Santoshi and his mother Malti along with Raju and Omveer because Salman's father (Chheda Khan) had sold his land for Rs.22,00,000.00 and therefore, they thought, he would be having enough money. Sipahi Lal confessed that he had to pay off his tractor's instalments therefore, he also participated in the plan. As a part of that plan, in the night of 11/12/12/2014, Kunwarpal drove the tractor to Salman's house to fetch him from his house thereafter he was abducted and kept blind folded. According to prosecution case, after getting information from Sipahi Lal that Salman, in furtherance of that plan, is being detained in the sugarcane field of Prempal, the police team including SWAT team proceeded to the spot on separate vehicles along with PW-1 and Rajesh Kumar (not examined). There, in a police action, after facing resistance in the shape of firing at the police party, the police team with the help of SWAT team apprehended Prempal (appellant no.1), Jitendra (who was later found juvenile and his trial was separated), Omveer (appellant no.3) and Kunwarpal (who was later found juvenile and his trial was separated). Whereas, three persons, namely, Raju (acquitted by the trial court), Ram Kishore (acquitted by the trial court) and Sarjeet (found juvenile) were successful in escaping from the spot. The arrested accused led the team to the spot where Salman was detained. The spot was in the shape of a ditch, about 10 feet deep, and was covered with leaves etc. When leaves etc were removed, Salman son of Chheda Khan was found tied in a chain. In connection with this entire operation six memorandums were prepared on 21/12/2014 namely, Ex. Ka-7 to Ex. Ka-12. These memorandums reflected seizure of various articles from the spot such as chain, mattress, notes, etc including (a) country made pistols/ cartridge from Prem Pal (appellant no.1), Jitendra and Omveer (appellant no.3); (b) Samsung mobile, alleged to be of Salman, from Jitendra; and (c) a ransom letter, making a demand of Rs.10,00,000.00 for release of Salman and Kunwarpal, from Omveer (appellant no.3).