RAJENDRA KUMAR Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) - Appellants Kailash, Naresh, Rajendra Kumar alias Shunty were put to trial on the charge of conspiracy, robbery & murder of one Mst. Vimla. The learned Additional Sessions Judge No.2 Sri Ganganagar, by his judgment dated 12-12-1997 convicted all the three appellants for the offence under Section 302/34, IPC and sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo three months rigorous imprisonment. They have also been convicted for the offence under Section 392/397, IPC and sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment & to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/- & in default of payment of fine, to further undergo two months rigorous imprisonment. The appellants have also been convicted for the offence under Section 120-B and sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment. One Mst. Indu has also been convicted for the offence under Section 414, IPC and sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment & to pay a fine of Rs. 100/- & in default of payment of fine, to further undergo fifteen days simple imprisonment. She has not challenged the conviction and sentence awarded to her.

(2.) The prosecution case as set out during trial is as follows: First appellant Kailash, a washer man by profession, was residing in a house alongwith fourth appellant Indira alias Indu. It is alleged that Indu is the cousin sister of first appellant but they were living as husband & wife. They were residing near the house of deceased Vimla wife of P.W. 12 Ram Niwas. Deceased Vimla had developed illicit relations with appellant Kailash. Coaccused Indira alias Indu developed friendship with deceased Vimla and she often used to visit her house. This was not liked by P.W. 12 Ram Niwas, the husband of deceased Mst. Vimla. This led to an oral altercation between P.W. 12 Ram Niwas and first appellant Kailash. P.W. 12 Ram Niwas thrashed Kailash. Inspite of the fact that Kailash was already living in a rented premises, on 15-12-1994 he approached to P.W. 3 Han Om for taking a room on rent. P.W. 3 Han Om agreed to rent out a room on a monthly rent of Rs. 350/-. It was agreed that appellant will pay a sum of Rs. 100/- in advance. Appellant Kailash, who was accompanied by accused Rajendra Kumar alias Shunty, put lock on the room. P.W. 3Hari Om also wanted guarantee from a respectable person. Appellant Kailash assured him to arrange surety of Ram Narayan on whose shop Rajendra Kumar alias Shunty was employed. On the next day, appellants Kailash and Rajendra Kumar visited the room and put certain articles therein. On 17-12-1994, both the accused persons again visited the room. On the same day in the evening, deceased Vimla was seen with the appellant Kailash in the said room. After some time, when he returned from the market, he found accused Rajendra Kumar alias Shunty and Naresh sitting in the room. When he inquired about the identity of the lady in the room, she was introduced as their Bhabhi being wife of appellant Kailash. On 18-12-1994, he found the room locked. On 19-12-1994 in the afternoon, he found appellants Kailash, Rajendra and Naresh in the room, cleaning utensils. On 20-12-1994, he found a lock on the room. He enquired from Ramnarayan about Kailash. Rajendra etc. he was told that Rajendra was never in his employment. He returned to the house & broke open the door of the room and found the dead-body of a lady. He informed the policy on telephone. The police reached on the spot and inspected the site. The First Information Report was submitted on the spot on the basis of which police registered a case for the offence under Section 302, IPC. The police prepared the inquest and sent the dead-body for post-mortem. During investigation, it revealed that on 19th evening, appellant Kailash & Indira alias Indu left the town in hush. It also revealed that deceased Vimla with her husband P.W. 12 Ram Niwas had gone to attend a marriage in another village Kesrisinghpur. They returned on 17-12-1994. Deceased Vimla was wearing six golden bangles, one ring and ear rings in both the ears. She visited some of her relatives including P.W. 1 Ashok Kumar and distributed sweets brought from village Kesrisinghpur. She visited P.W. 2 Rajbala at about 4.30 PM on 19-12-1994. At that time, she was wearing six golden bangles and ear rings. Appellants Kailash and Indu were arrested on 12-3-1994 from Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur vide Ex. P.39. In pursuance of the information given by Kailash. four golden bangles were recovered. Rajendra alias Shunty was arrested on 11-3-1995 at Sri Ganganagar. In pursuance of the information given by him, two golden bangles were recovered from the Arun Jewellers, Daulatpura, Gajiabad. Third appellant Naresh was arrested vide Ex. P. 48 on 11-3-1995 at Sri Ganganagar. After usual investigation, police laid charge-sheet against four accused persons viz. Kailash, Naresh and Rajendra alias Shunty for the offence under Sections 120-B, 302/34 and 392/397, IPC land Indira alias Indu for the offence under Section 414, IPC. All the accused persons denied charges levelled against them and claimed trial. The prosecution on support of the case, examined 21 witnesses and produced number of documents. In their statements under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the appellants denied the correctness of the prosecution evidence appearing against them. The Trial Court convicted and sentenced the appellants in the manner noticed above.

(3.) The learned trial Court found the following piece of circumstances incriminating against the appellants: