STATE OF M.P. Vs. SARVESHWAR PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are two connected matters arising out of the judgment dated 31 -1 -1977 by the Sessions Judge, Gwalior in Sessions Cases Nos. 157 to 165 whereby the accused Sarveshwar Prasad Sharma has been convicted under Section 302, Indian Penal Code for committing nine murders and sentenced to death. The learned Sessions Judge has made reference to this Court under Section 366, Code of Criminal Procedure for confirmation of the death sentence which is registered as Death Reference. No. 1 of 1977. The accused has also filed appeal from the conviction and sentence. This order will dispose of both.

(2.) THE accused is B.A.M.S. and is qualified medical practitioner. The prosecution case is that he was a close friend of the deceased Ram Swaroop and used to visit the latters's house very frequently. The houses of the accused as well as the deceased are situated in the same locality called Khallasi Pura or Shinde -Ki -Chhawani, Lashkar in the city of Gwalior. The financial position of the accused, it is alleged, was very bad so much so that he was leading a life of utter frustration. The deceased Ram Swaroop was employed as an Upper Division Clerk in the Madhya Pradesh Girls N.C. Battalion, at Gwalior. He also used to practice Homeopathy as his hobby. Thus medicine being the common interest of the accused as well as the deceased Ram Swaroop they became thick friends. It is stated that in order to purchase a motor -cycle Ram Swaroop withdrew Rs. 2,400 on 6 -3 -1976 and Rs. 840 on 13 -5 -1976 out of his G.P. Fund. He also received a sum of Rs. 348 on account of surrender leave on 1 -5 -1976, and Rs. 271 on account of salary on 2 -7 -1976. Besides the aforesaid amounts Ramswaroop withdrew Rs. 3,495 on 26 -6 -1976 out of his Savings Bank Account with Indian Overseas Bank. Ram Swaroop's father Mool Chand deceased is also alleged to have withdrawn Rs. 800 from his Savings Bank Account with Bank of India, Gwalior Branch on 16th June 1976. Thus according to prosecution there was considerable cash lying in the house of Ram Swaroop at the relevant time. Besides cash, there was also a few ornaments belonging to Ram Swaroop's mother and wife lying in the house. The prosecution story is that to steal away the cash and the gold and silver ornaments lying in the house of the deceased, the accused committed murders of all the nine members of Ramswaroop's family on the night intervening 4th and 5th July 1976. First, the accused and the deceased Ram Swaroop took liquor inside the room and when Ram Swaroop was heavily drunk and fell down unconscious, the accused gave a fatal blow with the wrong side of an axe on his head. Then his wife Smt. Bhagwati Bai who was on the terrace came down to see the condition of her husband and when she bent down to look at him, the accused gave a blow on her head and then strangulated her with a string (Nada). Then came Ram Baboo, son of Ram Swaroop to enquire about; Ram Swaroop's condition and lie also met the same fate at the hands of the accused. Thus all the members of the family excepting the child Simla the youngest daughter of Ram Swaroop came one by one and met death at the hands of the accused. Lastly the accused brought down the infant daughter Simla from the terrace and finished her also. Thus the accused wiped out the whole family by committing murders of all the nine members of the family mentioned below: - - Deceased

(3.) AFTER having done to death all the nine members of the family, the accused piled up their bodies in the room and then collected the booty consisting of cash, ornaments, clothes etc., belonging to the deceased and then went to his house after putting locks on the house of the deceased. On 6 -7 -1976 the residents of the locality felt a foul smell on account of the putrified corpses. They suspected that some animal may have died inside the house of Ram Swaroop and that may be the reason for the foul smell. But since the house was locked they could not do anything and ultimately one Ram Gopal Upadhyaya, P.W. 1, a resident of the locality went to the Police Station, Indraganj at about 8.00 P.M. and made a report about the unbearable foul smell coming from the locked house of the deceased. P.W. 38, Harendra Prasad Singh, Incharge, Police Station Indraganj, went to the spot, broke open the locks of the house and found that all the nine members of the family, including the children, were lying dead and the house and also been ransacked and the boxes and almirahs thrown open. In the course of investigation his suspicion was aroused against the accused who was sent for and on his information cash amounting to Rs. 4,600 and a number of ornaments belonging to the deceased, as also a few other articles, were recovered at his instance from his house. Thus after collecting the necessary evidence the police prosecuted the accused for the nine murders. The accused denied having committed any offence and examined his father -in -law, D.W. 1 in defence to prove that his finances were not bad. The learned Sessions Judge, Gwalior held that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing beyond doubt that the accused had committed the nine murders and in the result convicted and sentenced the accused as stated above.