SANJAY Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant herein, Sanjay son of Shri Satya Narain, was tried under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to F.I.R. No. 161, dated July 13, 1991 on the basis of prosecution version that Ravinder deceased used to run a shop of T.V. at Bhiwani. On June 25, 1991, in the morning the appellant met Dinesh PW 3, brother of deceased Ravinder and told him that during the night Ravinder and Ramesh, both deceased, and appellant had taken liquor in his factory. They also took meals in the mill, of the appellant at Bhiwani and that after taking meals Ravinder and Ramesh vomitted but the appellant remained perfectly fine. He further stated that all slept in the mill but in the morning he found Ravinder and Ramesh lying dead. Dinesh PW 3, in turn, informed his father, Manohar Lal, who was in service at Rohtak. Manohar Lal asked his son to take help of Sudesh Pal Jain and as such PW 3 Dinesh went to Sudesh Pal Jain. The matter was informed to Mr. Jain, who, on coming to know that no report had been lodged, went to the police Station. He met the police near octroi post, Devsar, where he made his statement Ex. PE to SI Subhash Chand, PW 7, who, in turn, vide his endorsement, Ex. PE/1, sent it to the police station where a report in Daily Diary was recorded. He went to the spot where bodies of both the deceased were lying. Inquest reports, Ex. PA/2 with respect to Ramesh deceased and Ex. PB/1 with respect to Ravinder deceased, were prepared. Both the dead bodies were sent for post-mortem vide applications Ex. PA/1 and Ex. PB. The contents of vomit lying at two places in the factory were also lifted, sealed and taken into possession vide memo Ex. PJ. In the factory, a container having some traces of cooked vegetables, tea-spoon, tiffin box, two empty jugs of plastic, four empty bottles of Campa Cola were also found. These were also taken into possession vide memo Ex. PH. A half of liquor bottle which was found empty was also taken into possession. The dead bodies of Ravinder and Ramesh were subjected to post-mortem by board of doctors. On July 13, 1991 Manohar Lal P W 2, gave an application Ex. PB to the police suspecting that the appellant was responsible for the crime and as such FIR Ex. PB/1 was recorded. The appellant was arrested on July 21, 1991 and tried under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, as mentioned above. After resultant trial, the learned Sessions Judge, Bhiwani held that appellant guilty for an offence under Section 302 of the I.P.C. for murder of deceased Ravinder and Ramesh by giving poison and convicted him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/-, in default whereof the appellant was to further undergo RI for one year. It is against this judgement of the learned Sessions Judge dated December 8, 1992 that the present appeal has been filed by Sanjay.

(2.) The prosecution version, in brief, is that on June 24, 1991, Sanjay, appellant herein, invited Ravinder Singh and Ramesh Kumar at his factory to serve them liquor and meals. As the appellant was to return an amount of Rs. 32,000/- to the deceased and was unable to repay the same, so he invited Ravinder Singh and Ramesh Kumar with an intention to kill them by administering poison in the liquor. As mentioned above, the FIR with regard to incident came to be lodged on July 13, 1991 at 8.20 p.m. Manohar Lal., in his application dated July 13, 1991, addressed to the S.H.O., Police Station Sadar Bhiwani, requested registration of a case under Section 302, IPC against Sanjay, appellant herein on the basic allegations that his son Ravinder Singh and Ramesh Kumar son of Birbal, were residents of Bhiwani and the appellant, who was owner of an Oil Factory, were all good friends. They used to drink and were also having money transactions with each other. Sanjay had taken money from his son Ravinder Singh and Ramesh Kumar for purchase of goods for committees and shop. His son Ravinder had told him in this regard that Sanjay had borrowed a sum of Rs. 32,000/- from him and had promised to return the said amount on June 24, 1991. On June 25, 1991 he was present on his duty at Public Health, Rohtak. At about 8 a.m. when his another son Dinesh told him on telephone that Ravinder and Ramesh were lying dead in the factory of Sanjay, who had taken their meals and consumed liquor at night along with Sanjay. Thereupon, he rushed to Bhiwani and saw the dead bodies of Ravinder and Ramesh in the hospital. When he made enquiries, Parmod son of Gaja Nand, Nunsar Mohalla, Bhiwani, told him that on June 24, 1991, he had seen Ravinder, Ramesh and Sanjay at about 8 p.m. sitting on the shop of Ramesh. Thereafter, all those three went away towards Sanjay Oil Factory on a scooter. He also told him that Sanjay was telling Ravinder and Ramesh that he would return their money after going to factory and that they would also take meals there. Sanjay had also asked Parmod to accompany them. He searched for Sanjay for a considerable extent but his whereabouts were not known. When he was confident that Sanjay had mixed some poisonous substance in liquor or in any eatable and served the same to Ravinder and Ramesh, he filed this application, on the basis of which formal F.I.R. was registered against the appellant.

(3.) To prove that it is only the appellant who was responsible for murder of Ravinder and Ramesh, the prosecution relied upon recovery of dead bodies of these two persons, from the factory of the appellant. Motive of not returning an amount of Rs. 32,000/- and, therefore, killing these two was another circumstance relied upon by the prosecution. Reliance was also placed upon the statement of PW 5 Parmod son of Gaja Nand, who deposed that on June, 24, 1991 at about 7 p.m. he had met Ramesh at his shop situated near Railway Crossing, Bhiwani. At that time Sanjay and Ravinder were sitting with him. In his presence Ravinder and Ramesh asked Sanjay about the money of Committee. Sanjay told them that he would give the money in the factory where they would drink and dine together. PW 5 was also invited by Ramesh as talks were of dine and wine together. He accepted the invitation. He went to the factory at about 8 p.m. and found that Sanjay, Ravinder and Ramesh were also sitting there. They were in the process of preparing meals. On enquiry, Ramesh told him that food was not ready as yet and he should take some liquor. As he was not to take liquor, he only sat there for sometime and when he found that food was not ready, he left from there. The prosecution also relied upon an extra judicial confession, said to have been made by the accused to one Chander Prakash and the statement of PW 3 Dinesh son of Manohar Lal, i.e. real brother of deceased Ravinder. This witness deposed that in the morning of June 25, 1991 the appellant had come to him at about 7 a.m. and told him that during the night on June 24, 1991 Ravinder and Ramesh had taken liquor and meals along with him at his factory. Ravinder and Ramesh, after taking meals, vomitted but the appellant felt nothing and they slept there. However, in the morning he found that Ravinder and Ramesh were dead. It is an admitted position that the learned Sessions Judge, on perusal of the evidence, did not rely upon the prosecution version insofar as it relates to motive of the appellant as also the extra judicial confession made by him to one Chander Prakash. The learned Sessions Judge, however, convicted the appellant on the basis of the remaining, part of the prosecution version, i.e. the dead bodies of Ravinder and Ramesh having been found in his factory, statements of PW 3 and PW 5, mention whereof has been made above. The learned Sessions Judge also took notice of the fact that as per reports of the Chemical Examiner, Ex.PA/5 and Ex. PB/4, poison was found in the viscera's of the deceased Ravinder and Ramesh.