HARJINDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF HP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been preferred by the appellant/ convict Harjinder Singh (hereafter referred to as the accused) against the judgment dated 28/30.12.1999 whereby he has been convicted under Section 302 I PC and has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 5000/ and in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for one year.

(2.) Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that the accused alongwith Smt. Neelam (since deceased) came to Bombay Picnic Spot (hereafter referred to as BPS) on 22.8.1998 at about 10 P.M. and booked room No. 202 in BPS for stay for the night. Entries were accordingly made in the Hotel Register Ex. PU/1 at Sr. No. 5530. The room was duly occupied by the accused and the deceased. The check out time was 12 noon. On 23.8.1998 at 12.30 P.M., Keshav Chauhan (PW -24), the then General Manager of BPS asked waiter Sandhya Dass (PW -4) to enquire from the accused and the deceased whether they wanted to further stay in the room or to check out. PW -4 found room No. 202 locked from outside and accordingly informed PW -24. Presuming that the accused and the deceased might have gone to Chintpumi, PW -24 awaited their return for about an hour but when they did not return, he handed over the duplicate key of the room to PW -4 Sandhya Dass and asked him to check the room. On checking, PW -4 found the dead body of the deceased in a semi naked condition lying in the bath room of the said room and informed PW -24 accordingly. Keshav Chauhan (PW -24) then reported the occurrence at Police Station, Amb vide report Ex. PO. Kailash Walia, the then SHO, Police Station, Amb (PW -25) went to BPS and inspected the place of occurrence. After making inquiries on the spot, he sent ruqua Ex. PN/1 to Police Station, Amb for registration of a case whereupon formal FIR Ex. PN under Section 302 I PC was recorded at the Police Station. A dog squad was requisitioned by PW -25 to the spot. However, it proved of no help. Photographs of the dead body were taken by Ashwani Kumar (PW -2), the negatives whereof are Exs.P -4 to P -6 and the developed photographs are Exs. P -1 to P -3. PW -25 prepared the site plan Ex. PX and inquest reports Exs. PA and PB. The post mortem of the dead body was conducted by Dr. S.K. Nanda (PW -16) who prepared and issued the post mortem report Ex. PS. He, however, reserved his opinion regarding cause of death till the chemical examination of viscera which was sent to State Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis. Vide report Ex. PP given by Assistant Director of the said Laboratory, aluminum phosphide and intrazapam were found in the viscrea. After receipt of this report, PW -16 opined that the cause of death of the deceased was poisoning. A party headed by ASI Avtar Singh (PW -18) was deputed to verify the address as given by the accused in the Hotel Register but on verification, it was found that the given address was incorrect. On 24.8.1988, the investigating officer took in possession Salwar Ex. P -9, chappal Ex.P -10, water bottle Ex.P -11, packet of condom Ex.P -12, strip of diaband Ex.P -13, Hajmola Ex.P -14, a phial of liquid Gelusil Ex.P -15, empty cigarette packet Ex.P -16 and Chuni Ex.P -17 from room No. 202 of BPS vide memo Ex. PD. One glass (Ex.P -8) which was giving foul smell was also taken in possession vide recovery memo Ex. PC. The extract of the register containing the entry of the accused Ex. Pb was also taken in possession vide memo Ex. PQ. On the basis of the photographs, Exs. P -1 to P -3, the identity of the deceased was established as Neelam Kumari, resident of Dhuri Line, Muradpura, Ludhiana. On further investigation, it was found that the father of the accused and the accused had illicit relations with the deceased. PW -25 went to Ludhiana on 28.8.1998 but the house and factory of the accused were found locked. It was also found that on 22.8.1998 accused had gone to the house of the deceased. On 29.8.1998, the accused was arrested from the house of his uncle Kuldip. It was further found that the accused was also involved in the murder of two daughters of the deceased, namely, Mamta and Puja for which the cases against him were registered at Ludhiana. During the course of investigation, the investigating agency made an application Ex. PJ to the Additional Chief judicial Magistrate, Amb for conducting the identification parade of the accused. Initially, the accused agreed to take part in the identification parade vide his statement Ex>PJ/3 but subsequently, refused to take part in such test identification parade on the ground that the witness who was to identify him had seen him on the day prior to the date fixed for his identification parade. On the basis of another application Ex. PK moved by the police, specimen signatures of the accused Ex. PK/1 to Ex.PK/6 were obtained in the presence of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and were sent to the handwriting expert for comparison with the signatures of the accused as in the Hotel Register. However, as per the report of the handwriting expert, no opinion could be given on the basis of the writings sent to him. The accused, however, refused to give further specimen writings/signatures on the ground that he has already given such writings/ signatures. On interrogation during investigation, accused made a disclosure statement Ex. PF that the key of room No. 202 of BPS alongwith its ring, 8 medicine tablets, one dabbi containing tablets meant for preserving wheat seed and a polythene bag had been thrown by him in the bushes by the side of the road a little ahead of JCT Mill, Chohal while he was travelling in the bus to Ludhiana on 23.8.1998 and could get the same recovered. Pursuant to the said statement, the said articles were recovered by the police in the presence of witnesses on 5.9.1998 vide memo Ex. PG. Except the key of the hotel room, other articles were sealed on the spot. The key was applied to the lock of room No. 202 whereby the lock of the said room could be opened and locked. Thereafter, the said key was also sealed vide memo Ex. PH. On being satisfied of the commission of murder of the deceased by the accused, the police submitted a charge sheet against the accused, who was tried by the learned Sessions Judge, Una on a charge under Section 302 IPC.

(3.) To prove the charge against the accused, the prosecution examined as many as 25 witnesses.