RANADHIR BASU Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant appeal is directed against a judgment of conviction against accused appellant No. 1, namely, Ranadhir Basu, under sections 301, 302/120B and 201 of Indian Penal Code and for the offence under section 302 of Indian Penal Code, the accused appellant is sentenced to death and he has been further awarded a sentence to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- and, in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years and, for the offence under section 201 of Indian Penal Code, the accused appellant is awarded a punishment of rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- and, in default, to suffer imprisonment for a further period of one year.

(2.) So far as the accused appellant No. 2 Krishnendu Jana is concerned, he is convicted of an offence under sections 302/120B and 302/109 of Indian Penal Code and, for the offence under section 302/120B of Indian Penal Code, he is sentenced to death and he is also sentenced for a fine of Rs. 2,000/- and, in default, to suffer rigourous imprisonment for a period of two years. The said appeal is directed against the judgment passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, 1st court, Barasat, 24-Parganas (North) dated August 9, 1996. There are altogether two appeals before us, namely, Criminal Appeal Nos. 277 of 1996 and 257 of 1996. As such, both the appeals are taken up for hearing on contest.

(3.) So far as the factual matrix of the case is concerned, the accused Ranadhir Basu stands charged under sections 302, 302/120B and 201 IPC and the accused Krishnendu Jana stands charged under sections 302/120B and 302/109 IPC on the accusation that they on and from January 21, 1991 at Messrs. Scientronic India situate at 24-A College Row, P.S. Amherst Street, Calcutta and at other places ultimately leading to the fateful incident at premises No. 26 Brajanath Pal Street, P.S. Noapara, District-24-Parganas (North), agreed to perform an illegal act for commission of an offence for murdering four persons, namely, Sm. Sulekha Pal, Subhas Chandra Pal, Sm. Latika Pal and Sri Debendra Mohan Pal, all members of the same family, by illegal means by way of administering different types of poison, namely, Mercuric Chloride, Chloroform, etc. and finally by administering Sodium Cyanide which was done in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy with each other. On March 20, 1991 at premises No. 26 Brajanath Pal Street, as stated before, four persons died and it was alleged that offence of murder was committed by accused Ranadhir Basu which was aided and abated by accused Krishnendu Jana. The prosecution case, inter alia, is that on March 21, 1991 at about 00.15 hours the defacto complainant Rabindranath Ghosh of Goalpara heard some groaning sound punched with wail whereupon after listening to the sound the neighbours congregated at the site and they found Sudipa Pal, daughter of Subhas Chandra Pal, lying in the ground in front of their house with hands tied on the back with the help of cloth mattress with which her legs and neck were also found to have been tied up. It was realised by the said neighbours that the said Sudipa Pal was making such sound. After the neighbours assembled there, she was rescued from that condition. As no response was forthcoming from other members of the family, the matter was reported to the local police station. On arrival of the police, the defacto complainant along with others and the police personnel entered the house of Subhas Chandra Pal where it was detected that Debendra Mohan Pal, father of Subhas Chandra Pal, was lying dead in a ground floor room and his hands and feet were tied with copper wire connected with the plug point of the switch board of that room. In the first floor rooms of that house, the dead bodies of three other person, namely, Subhas Chandra Pal, his wife Sulekha Pal and his mother Latika Pal were detected. Like the dead body of Debendra Mohan Pal, the other three dead bodies as mentioned were also found to be in the same condition being roped with copper wires connected with the plug point switch. The almirahs of first floor and ground floor rooms of that house were also found to be in open condition with articles lying in a disheavelled condition. It apparently appeared that the said three persons were killed by electrical shocks and an FIR was lodged over the incident reproducing the scenario of the crime. At first, the Sub-Inspector attached to the local police station took up the investigation which was subsequently transferred to the CID, West Bengal. The evidence collected through investigation revealed that the accused Ranadhir Basu, who had been coaching Sudipa Pal, an adolescent girl approximately of 15 years of age as her private tutor, was the kingpin behind the commission of the said offence for his personal gain and Sudipa was utilised as an accomplice in the commission of such offence. It appeared at the initial stage of investigation that Sudipa was harbouring some dissatisfaction about her mother because of her interference with the way of life of her daugher and Sudipa used to give vent to her feeling before her private tutor Ranadhir Basu who in the meantime started enjoying her confidence by way of domination casting its shadow over the mind of the said Sudipa. It apparently appeared that Ranadhir taking advantage of the situation utilised Sudipa to bringing an end to the life of her mother with the offer of lure of prosperity in her life under the guidance and help of her private tutor. At the instance of the private tutor in the initial stages, Sudipa went on in materialising the scheme for the purpose of execution of the plan so that the scenario of such murder could be properly enacted. Krishnendu Jana was alleged to have been utilised for the purpose of collection of poisons in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy. The said Krishnendu Jana is a dealer in chemicals who runs a business under the name and style of "Scientronic India" at 24-A College Row, Calcutta who used to supply white arsenic, potassium permanganate which were found as per allegations. Apart from the same, Mercuric Chloride, Chloroform, Sodium Cyanide were also alleged to have been supplied by the said Krishnendu Jana and initially the experiment was conducted upon guineapigs and white rats in order to test the potency of the said poison. The final experiment with Sodium Cyanide and Mercuric Chloride upon the guineapigs became successful and on the fateful evening of 20th March, 1991 the accused No. 1 Ranadhir Basu with the assistance of the accused Sudipa administered the aforesaid cyanide poison with sweets and mercuric chloride with water at their residence and killed them. After commission of the murder by poison the accused Ranadhir with the assistance and/or connivance of accused Sudipa made the evidence of commission of offence of the murder to disappear with the intention to exonerate the offenders. It appeared at the initial stage of the progress of investigation that accused camouflaged the scene of crime to mislead the investigation and went on giving instruction to Sudipa not to divulge the truth for which the identity of the offenders could not be discerned for a long time. Ultimately, the police arrested all the three offenders and on completion of investigation the police submitted charge-sheet under sections 302/34/120B/201 IPC against accused Ranadhir Basu and Sudipa Pal and under sections 302/120B/109 IPC against Krishnendu Jana. A pardon was tendered to accused Sudipa Pal and charges were framed against the other accused persons, namely, Ranadhir Basu and Krishnendu Jana as indicated hereinbefore. The said charges wer? denied respectively by the concerned accused persons and they pleaded not guilty. The instant trial began against Ranadhir Basu and Krishnendu Jana and no charge was framed against approver Sudipa Pal and the charge against her was kept in abeyance for future consideration. The case of the accused Ranadhir and Krishnendu briefly is that they are innocent and the prosecution story is absolutely false. There was total denial of the charges. In the backdrop of the same, the trial commenced where the accused appellants Ranadhir and Krishnendu had been facing the trial. It is necessary to keep in mind that Sudipa Pal is also alleged to have taken part in the crime, but as she was given assurance of making a full disclosure of narration of facts as an approver, the pardon was tendered to her. As a result, she was not tried for the offence complained of.