STATE OF RAJASTHAN Vs. RAMESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE learned Additional Sessions Judge, Banswara, by judgment dated 7. 09. 2000, has convicted the respondent Ramesh of offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to death. He has submitted the proceedings to this court for confirmation of the death sentence, which has been registered as D. B. Criminal Murder Reference No. 2/2000 "state of Rajasthan vs. Ramesh". THE conviction and sentence has also been challenged by filing a joint appeal on behalf of accused respondents Ramesh and Suraj. THE second appellant Suraj has been convicted of the offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/- and in default of payment of fine to further undergo six months' rigorous imprisonment. THEy have also been convicted of the offence under Section 394/397 IPC and sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1000/- each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo six months' rigorous imprisonment. THE appeal has been rigorous imprisonment. THE appeal has been registered as "ramesh & Anr. vs. State of Rajasthan" (1 ). Both the accused have also preferred appeals through Jail, registered as D. B. Criminal Jail Appeals No. 1269/2000 and 665/2000.

(2.) THE prosecution case as disclosed during trial is that deceased Nand Kishore was a wholesale dealer of cloths at Banswara. On alternate Sundays, he alongwith his munim deceased Mahendra Kumar used to visit number of villages of Kushalgarh area for supply of cloths to small shop keepers and recovery of dues in jeep bearing No. RJB 9191, driven by his driver appellant Ramesh. On the fateful day i. e. on 15. 10. 95, they visited number of villages on routine trip and collected dues in large sum. In this trip, second accused Suraj also accompanied them. After completing the job for the day, before leaving Kushalgarh for Banswara, jeep was parked in front of a beetal shop. P. W. 7 Jitendra Joshi and PW 8 Gajraj Singh made a request to deceased Nand Kishore for lift upto village Bagidora. THE request was accepted by Nand Kishore but it was resisted by the driver. However, both the them succeeded in boarding the jeep. THE appellant Ramesh before proceeding further, on a false pretext, got them down near Kalinjara Bridge. At about 11. 15 P. M. , the appellant Ramesh presented himself before the Police Station, Kalinjara, and lodged an oral FIR stating inter alia that he was a driver on the jeep of Nand Kishore bearing No. RJB 9191 and in the afternoon, he alongwith Nand Kishore and Munim Mahendra Kumar travelled to several villages i. e. Karji, Badodiya, Kalinjara, Hejamal etc. Nand Kishore received orders for supply of cloths and whatever material was available in the jeep was supplied. He also recovered money due from various shop keepers in different villages. THEy left Kushalgarh at about 9. 30 PM. and reached at village Bhoyan at about 10. 30 P. M. Five to six persons wearing black underwear and black baniyaan appeared on the road and hurled stones on the jeep. He sustained injury on his head. THE glass was broken. He left the jeep and ran away to report the matter to Police. He also stated that Seth and Munim were in the jeep. He expressed apprehension of robbery by miscreants. On this information, police registered a case for the offence under Sec. 395 IPC and proceeded with investigation. P. W. 47 Man Singh, Incharge of the Police Station, Kalinjara alongwith the police party reached on the spot. Accused Ramesh pointed out the place of incident. THEy could not trace Seth and Munim in the night. However, in the morning at about 6 A. M. , constable Kailash reported that two dead bodies were seen near the outskirt of village Bhoyan lying in a bush. THE Investigating Officer, added the offence under Sec. 302 IPC, inspected and prepared the site plan Ex. P. 2 He also prepared the inquest report and sent both the dead bodies for post mortem. During inspection, he suspected the involvement of informant Ramesh in the crimes. He found the information given by Ramesh false and fabricated. Firstly, because there were no marks of stones on the jeep and further no stone was lying there and the dead bodies which were lying at a distance of 30 ft. from the jeep. Secondly, the pieces of broken glass were on the blood, which suggests that murder was committed first and then glasses were broken. In case, the information given by the accused was correct, then the blood would have been on the broken pieces of glasses. Near the dead bodies, there were no marks of tyres. Ordinarily, the driver would have been the first victim. Fourthly, if it was a case of robbery, there would have been signs of struggle on the spot i. e. the place from where the dead body was recovered. Fifthly, though as per the version given by accused Ramesh, seeing the robbers, he ran away and presented himself at the Police Station but one of his shoes stained with blood, was lying on the spot, which suggests that driver of the jeep did not immediately run away seeing the robbers but he was there for some time near the dead bodies. THEre were blood marks on the gate and other places inside the jeep, which suggests that struggle took place inside the jeep and thereafter the dead bodies were taken about a distance of 30 ft. and concealed in bushes. He also found the blood stains on the clothes of the driver viz; Ramesh. THEre were also some injuries on his person. Accordingly, the Investigating Officer arrested the appellant Ramesh on the spot. He was medically examined and injury report Ex. P. 44 was prepared. THE police seized and packed the other articles from the spot. During investigation, police made recovery of weapon of offence and other articles in pursuance of the informations given by the accused persons. After usual investigation, police laid chargesheet against the appellants Ramesh and Suraj for the offences under Sections 302, 392, 394 IPC.

(3.) WE have heard Mr. Pradeep Shah, learned counsel for the appellants and Mr. A. R. Nikub, Public Prosecutor and perused the record carefully.