BALMUKUND PANDEY Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) They are heard. This revision is directed against the order dated 17-4-2000 passed by IInd Additional Sessions Judge. Satna in Sessions Trial No. 164 of 1998 whereby the applicant has been charged under Sections 302 read with Section 201 and 364 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) According to the case of the prosecution as appears from the charge sheet it was alleged that on 17-7-1998 Yogesh alias Rama aged about ten years was abducted and thereafter his dead body was found on 18-7-1998 in an open ground situate near the house of the applicant. Yogesh alias Rama was son of Complainant Ram Naresh Soni who is neighbour of the applicant. It is alleged by the prosecution that after abducting Yogesh alias Rania a telephone call was received on Telephone Number 69204 belonging to Kushdas at a Public Call Office having S.T.D. communication. It was alleged that this call was received by Kushdas and Dayaram Soni. Mukesh Soni. Ajju alias Ajay Soni and Bilju Datt Soni had a talk on that call. The call was for payment of ransom of Rs. 3.000/- for release of the child Yogesh alias Rama. It is alleged that the voice of the person calling in the aforesaid telephone at Public Call Office of Kushdas was that of applicant Bal Mukund Pandey and for proving the same the prosecution had made a Panchnama on 12-8-1998 wherein the applicant Bal Mukund Pendey was required to call from Tiwari Communications. Akash Communications and Abbas Communications to the aforesaid Public Call Office on Telephone No. 69204 and the aforesaid persons again having talked on that call alleged to have recognized the voice of applicant Bal Mukund Pandey. Further it was alleged that the dead body of Yogesh alias Rama was found in an open ground situate near the house of the applicant. A police dog was employed for detecting and finding out the person who has killed the deceased. The dog went inside the house of the applicant and thereafter he came back and went towards river. There is no direct evidence on record of abduction and murder of Yogesh alias Rama: or even of destroying the evidence of the incident.

(3.) Having gone through the challan papers it appears that a written report dated 17-7-1998 was made by Ram Naresh Soni the father of deceased who did not suspect the applicant when he made an application in writing. At the time of making the application the information regarding death of Yogesh alias Rama was not there and it was stated in the report that the child had disappeared at about 7.45 P.M. A telephone call was received on the aforesaid Telephone No. 69204 demanding ransom of Rs. 3,000/-. It appears that thereafter the statement of complainant Ram Naresh Soni was recorded. From the statement of-Ram Naresh Soni it is clear that when the child was disappeared he did not suspect that the applicant had abducted him. When he heard about missing of Yogesh alias Rama his son he at once rushed towards the river directly where the deceased was supposed to have been playing, but he could not find him there. He says that about 7.45 P.M. Mukesh Soni had received a telephone call on the aforesaid telephone regarding the payment of ransom of Rs. 3,000/-. Nothing has been said by the complainant Ram Naresh Soni in his statement to show that any other person had received the telephone call. The statement of Mukesh Soni also does not show that he had immediately recognised the voice of applicant Bal Mukund Pandey. All that he said is that the voice of the person speaking was a heavy voice and he thought that his person must be a person of the locality who knew about the family of Ram Naresh Soni. The statement of this person also does not, in any way help the case of the prosecution. Ram Naresh Soni says that the telephone call was received by his son. He does not say that it was received by anybody else. Therefore, it appears that the Investigating Officer in order to implicate the applicant had made the Panchnama saying that Dayaram Soni, Mukesh Soni, Ajju alias Ajay Soni and Birju Datt Soni had recognized the voice which was similar to the voice of Bal Mukund Pandey, the applicant. However it does not appear from the Panchnama that the prosecution tried to get the voice of Bal Mukund Pandey recognized by Mukesh Soni, who is, initially, alleged to have received the telephone call as per statement of his father Ram Naresh Soni.