STATE OF H.P. Vs. KUSUM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE State challenges the judgment passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Kullu, acquitting the respondent who was charged for offences under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as the ˜IPC ) alongwith her son Naresh who was minor at the relevant time and was tried by the Children Court.

(2.) SHORN of all unnecessary details,not necessary for the adjudication of this case, the prosecution case in brief is that Kusum respondent had abandoned the company of her husband and was in relationship with the deceased Harbhajan Singh aged about 65 years whose murder she is supposed to have committed.Harbhajan Singh had two brothers PW -1 Mohinder Singh and PW -2 Bhupinder Singh. He was residing with his brother Mohinder Singh at Rajauri Garden, New Delhi. The body of Harbhajan Singh was recovered from room No.101 of Holiday Guest House, Manikaran on 21.10.1999, where the deceased alongwith the accused is alleged to have checked in on 18.10.1999. The body was recovered after suspicion of the hotel owner PW -13 Vinod Kumar and Manager PW -14 Amar Singh who was aroused by the fact that the deceased was supposed to have checked out on 20.9.1999, but the room was found to be locked whereafter, they peeped through the ventilator to see if anything was amiss and the room was opened by a duplicate key. The body of the deceased was found lying in the bathroom with blood stains.

(3.) ADVERTING to the first circumstance, that the motive was to grab the property of the deceased, the prosecution primarily relied upon the evidence of PW -25 Rishi Pal who was the property agent negotiating on behalf of deceased Harbhajan Singh. He stated in his evidence that he is a property agent and has been working as such since 1994 in Sangam Vihar, New Delhi. He states that about two years prior to the occurrence, one Sikh gentleman accompanied by lady, whom he identified as the accused, came to his shop/office approached him with the request that the Sikh gentleman wanted to sell the property which consisted of first floor of a Kothi in Chitranjan Park, Pocket -40, New Delhi. The reason disclosed for selling was that it was tenanted and was of no use to the Sikh gentleman. This Sikh gentleman handed over to him the photocopy of the property which, according to him, looked genuine and price of the property was to be settled after tenant had been evicted. Thereafter he went to the Kothi to meet the tenant. One Geeta Kukreja, who was residing there with her husband, insisted that the matter be discussed in the presence of her husband whom he met after a couple of visits. He talked to him with respect to the settlement etc. and this gentleman informed him that he will settle the matter with the owner. He then says that the tenant informed him that the Sikh gentleman had not met him for about 11/2 months, so much so he has not been collecting rent due. Thereafter, he went to the house of Sardarji - and found that his house was locked since the last about 11/2 months and his whereabouts were not known. He handed over his visiting card to a shopkeeper in the neighbourhood who was running a bakery shop asking him to hand it over to Sardarji when he comes back. After 2/3 days, the police from Rajouri Garden and brother - in -law of Sardarji - Harbans Singh came to him and showed photographs of a woman and wanted her address. The police then came to Gurgaon. He took them to Zebar Mehal and pointed out the place where he had met the accused. He could do this because earlier when the accused and Sardarji - had met him for the first time with the photocopy of the title deeds, the accused had telephoned him after about 20 -25 days from Gurgaon asking him to inspect the original documents at the Kothi -. He then had proceeded to the address given by her which was Zebar Mehal in Gurgaon. He says that she had taken him out to a restaurant and had shown the original documents to her. He then says that one Hari Om, who was dealing with Manglasutras etc., was the contact address of the accused which was disclosed to him by the accused herself. On the day when he had accompanied the police, they were looking for Hari Om whose address was disclosed to them by a shopkeeper near Zebar Mehal and they went to the house of this person. They found the accused in the company of her relative in the house. He says that photo Ex.PW -18/A might be of that Sikh gentleman. He could not identify this Sikh gentleman because at the time when he had met him, he was wearing a turban. At this stage, he was declared hostile as he resiled from his earlier statement. In cross -examination by the defence, he stated that he had only talked to Sardarji - who had informed him that the accused would show him the original documents.