SONU AKA SURENDER Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellants herein and Mohammad Bilal Anwar Ashrafi were tried for the offences punishable under Sections 364 read with Section 34, Section 120-B, Section 302 read with Section 34 and Section 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (here-in-after referred to as the 'IPC') and vide judgment of conviction dated March 14, 2011 and order of sentence dated March 15, 2011 have been convicted and sentenced by the court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sonipat (here-in-after referred to as the 'trial court') as under: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_435_LAWS(P&H)8_2015_1.html</FRM>

(2.) Criminal Appeal No. D-332-DB of 2011 has been brought by Sonu aka Surender, Criminal Appeal No. D-478-DB of 2011 by Naveen aka Bholi and Criminal Appeal No. D-567-DB of 2011 by Lalit, Mohammad Akbar aka Raju and Mohammad Anwar aka Disco, to challenge their conviction and award of punishment while Criminal Revision No. 3147 of 2009 has been brought by Naveen aka Bholi to challenge order dated September 17, 2008 dismissing his application for treating him as a juvenile and Criminal Revision No. 333 of 2012 has been preferred by Complainant Paras Ram to seek enhancement of sentence of the appellants and for grant of adequate compensation. The three appeals and two Criminal Revisions involve common questions of fact and law and, as such, are proposed to be disposed of by this common judgment being penned down in Criminal Appeal No. D-332-DB of 2011, Sonu aka Surender versus State of Haryana. Fact situation:

(3.) Put concisely, prosecution story suggests that Paras Ram (PW1), in addition to being an agriculturist, was also running a weighbridge in village Dhatury. His son Dharmesh Kumar (the deceased), aged about twenty years, was studying in BA Part-I in CRA College, Sonipat. At or around 08.30 p.m. on March 27, 2008, Dharmesh Kumar left home in Alto Car bearing registration No. HR 4CA 4838 (belonging to his father, Paras Ram-PW1) saying that he, alongwith his friends, was going to Panipat. At or around 06.30 a.m. on March 28, 2008 he (PW Paras Ram) received a telephone call at his landline telephone from Dharmesh Kumar's cell phone No. 9813827284 asking him to arrange an amount of Rs. 10,00,000/- otherwise, his son, Dharmesh Kumar, who was in the custody of some unknown persons, would be killed. A similar call from that very cell phone was attended to by his nephew, Ashok Kumar (PW2) at about 10.00 a.m. Same message was received repeatedly. He took it lightly thinking it to be a joke. Dharmesh Kumar, however, did not return home and his (Paras Ram's) efforts to trace him out also proved futile. While going to the Police Station, he came across SI Ranjit Singh (PW16) at Bhighan Chowk and narrated before him the whole episode in the form of a statement, Exhibit PA, based whereupon a formal First Information Report (here-in-after referred to as the 'FIR'), Exhibit PA/2, was recorded at Police Station, Murthal under Section 364A, IPC, at 06.25 a.m. on March 29, 2008 by ASI Rajbir Singh. Investigation: