MOBASINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant Mobasingh has been convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge No. 2 Sri Ganganagar under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 50/ -. He has also been convicted under Section 201 I.P.C. and sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 100/ -. Both the sentences were made to run concurrently. His son Sahibsingh was also tried along with him under Section 201 I.P.C for causing disappearance of evidence namely, murder of the deceased Gomasingh, but he was acquitted and there is no appeal by the State from his acquittal.

(2.) SUCCINCTLY staged, the prosecution case is that the deceased and the accused -appellant (who will, hereinafter, be referred to as 'the accused') were brothers in -law to each other, in as much as their wives were sisters. Gomasingh used to live in village Kikarwali, whereas the accused is a resident of village Baehir, which is at a distance of about 10 miles from Kikarwali. The accused owed a debt of Rs. 50/ to the deceased and, therefore, the deceased left for Bashir in the morning of 11th July, 1969 to recover the said debt from the accused. When the deceased did not return, even though four or five days had passed, his son Khushalsingh PW/1 naturally became anxious and went to Bashir to enquire from the accused regarding the where -about of his father. Mobasingh informed him that he had paid the amount to the deceased, who had thereafter, left Bashir the very day he came there. PW/1 Khushalsingh searched for his father, the deceased Gomasingh, at several places where his relations resided, but Gomasingh was not found. Khushalsingh went to Bhimson, Sarpanch of Lellawaii PW/10 and told him about the disappearance of his father. Bhimsen reduced the information given by Khuchalsingh to writing and asked Khushalsingh to present the same at the Police Station, Sangaria. This report is Ex. P/1, Khushalsingh continued MB efforts to trace out his father, but without success. Ultimately he went to village Dhiban where his maternal uncle Bhagwansingh PW/4 resided and informed bioo about the disappearance of his father. Bhagwan Singh and Khushalsingh both again went to Basbir to make further enquiries from Mobasingh and this time Mobasingh admitted before them that be had done Gomasingh to death and the matter may not be reported to the Police, as they were relations. Both these persons, then, went to the Bus Stand in village Basbir where they happened to meet Assistant Sub -Inspector, Police Station, Sangaria Suraj Prakash PW/3. to whom Khushalsingh narrated the whole matter and Suraj Prakash took down the statement of Khusalsingh then & there The statement has been marked Ex. P/2 and has been treated as a First Information Report of the occurrence. Suraj Prakash sent it to Police Station, Sangaria with constable Dhnasingh for registering a case. On its basis a case under Section 302 IP C was registered at Police Station Sangaria by the Head Constable PW/5 Trilokchand. This was on 22nd July, 1969. Suraj Prakash farther interrogaJed Khushalsingh and Bhagwansingh and after recording their statements proceeded to the house of Mobasingh at about 4.15 p.m. along with Khushalsingh and Bhagwansingh, Mbbasingh however, did not furnish any clue about the deceased Gomasingh The A.S.I. arrested the accused order arrest memo Ex. P/13 and took his personal search, whereupon he noticed blood stems on the 'Kachha' which the accused was wearing. The seizure memo of the 'Kachha' is Ex P/27 and the 'Kachha' has been marked as article No. 13. Thereafter, be went with the accused to the house of the Devilal, Sarpanch of Bashir PW/11 and interrogated the accused further and here the accused disclosed that he and his son Sahibsingh had buried the dead body of Gomasingh in a Tiba situated in Killa No. 2 Rohi 10 F.T.P. square No. 67. The information given by the accused was reduced to writing by the A.S.I and the same is marked Ex. P/28. The accused expressed a desire to point out the dead body and led the A.S.I. to the spot. The party consisted of Bhagwan siugh, Khushalsingh and Devilal, besides the A.S.I. and other constables and the accused. It is said that the accused dug earth to the extent of 3' or 4' and took out the dead body wrapped in a gunny -bagend tied with a rope. An iron chain was found tied round the neck of the dead body, which was seized by the A.S.I. Seizure memo of the dead body is Ex. P/4. There were multiple injuries on the dead body. Various articles on the dead body viz. a gunny bag, a rope, a Kbas, Chaddar, a Pagari, an under -wear and an iron -chain were also taken possession of by the A.S.I., The seizure memo of these articles is Ex. P/3 The accused further gave information that be had concealed the choora and the shirt of the deceased. The information regarding the shoes is Ex. P/30 and the information regarding the shirt is Ex P/31. The accused got the shoes recovered from a dry tank nearby. The recovery memo of the shoes is Ex. P/6 and the shoes have been marked article Section The shirt, too, was recovered at the pointing by the accused under a heap of bricks lying in the same vicinity. The recovery memo of the shirr is Ex. P/7 and the shirt is article A/9. The Investigating Officer also prepared two site plans at the spot which are marked Ex. P/5 and Ex. P/29. He also sent for PW/3 Dr. Roopsingh, Medical Officer, Sangaria, who reached the spot and conducted post mortem examination of the dead body at about 6 p. m. The dead body was identified by Khushalsingh as that of his father Gomasingh. The following injuries were noticed on the dead body on post -mortem examination: (1) 'One inched wound 6' x 1' x 2' through and through passing through the right remus of mendible just below the mendi -bular joint, to the upper jaw cutting it to the other side just below the nose. The upper jaw is completely severed There were sharp cuts on the body edges, Left sycomitic bone was also cut. This was due to one incised wound. (2) There was a lacerated wound completely cutting the right arm from the trunk. Dimension 6 'x3 'x through and through with a sharp cut on the right scapula V shaped dimension 3' x 1' on the upper end. Spine of the scapula v/as also cut, (3) One incised 1 joking wound 5' x 2' x 4' on the left shoulder outer aspect near the upper end. The head of the humerus was cut completely from the shaft in the region of the wound. (4) Right fore -arm was missing from the wrist together with a wrist bones. (5) One incised wound 6' x 2' x through and through the left scoot also joint Depth of the wound was 5'. There were sharp cuts on the bone edges. (6) The neck was completely severed approximately only some muscle tissues and skin tag remained. This was at a junction of first cervical vertrlbri and the skull, Tae particular ends of the skull had sharp cut on it, The party then returned to village Bashir and stayed at the house of Devilal.

(3.) AS regards the presence of the blood on the various articles recovered at the instance of the accused, we may mention that it was found by the chemical examiner and the serologist that the the Kichho of the accused (Article 13) was stained with human blood and as also cuttings from the shirt and the clod of earth recovered at the instance of the accused. Thus, after having carried out the aforesaid investigation, the Police challaned the accueed as well as Sahibsingh in the court of Magistrate, Hanumangaih, who committed them for trial to the court of Additional Sessions Judge No. 2, Sri Ginganagar.