STATE OF RAJASTHAN Vs. INDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) INDERSIRGH respondent has been acquitted of the offence under sec. 302 IPC by the Additional Sessions Judge No. 2, Jodhpur, and the State has filed this appeal. He was charged for having committed the murder of Abdul Salam, who resided at Jodhpur and carried on the business of purchasing and selling goats and sheep. For purchasing sheep and goats, he used to go outside Jodhpur to various villages where sheep and goats abound. It is alleged by the prosecution that on 10th April, 1963, he left Jodhpur with a sum of Rs. 2,000/- and went to several villages in Shergarh Tehsil. When he did not return after 7/8 days, as promised by him, his uncle Abbas (PW. 1) sent Abdul Razzaq (PW. 13) and Mustafa (PW. 2) in search of him to Shergarh and Shetrawa. They brought the information that Abdul Salam alias Sheroo had purchased two goats from Ranidan Singh (PW. 11) at village Asarlai but beyond that his whereabouts could not be traced. Another party consisting of Allahdin (PW. 10), Abdul Razzaq (PW. 13), Mohammed (PW. 15) and Ismail was then sent to village Asarlai.

(2.) ABBAS also submitted a written report at Jodhpur. This report was sent to Police Station, Dechu, where First Information Report was drawn up and an offence under sec. 364 I. P. C. was registered on 15-5-63 and investigation was started by Mehboob Khan (PW. 18) Station House Officer, Dechu Police Station. The four persons, who had been sent in search of Abdul Salam, informed him that Indersingh respondent had killed Abdul Salam Alias Sheroo and that thereafter, he had gone to village Bamanoo, but Indersingh could not be found, on 17-5-63. Mehboob Khan came to know that Indersingh had gone towards Jodhpur. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jodhpur, who had also visited Asarlai, came to know that Indersingh was at Jodhpur. He found him out and took him to village Asarlai where he was formally arrested on 18-5-63. On the same day, Indersingh furnished information which was recorded in a memorandum (Ex. P/2 ). The admissible portion of the information is that he had buried a dead |body in the Charbara near a khejri tree after digging a round pit. He also furnished details about the clothes which were on the corpse and also the articles which were buried with the corpse. Thereafter Indersingh took the investigating officer and motbirs Vijay Singh and Ranidansingh to his charbara which was enclosed with a thorn enclosure up to a man's height. It had a door which was closed. Then Indersingh went to a khejri tree and pointed out the place where he had buried the dead body of Abdul Salam alias Sheroo and the other articles mentioned in Ex. P/20. Indersingh then dug up the place to depth of about one cubit. Several articles (Exhibits 4 to 11) the details of which we shall give here after were then recovered. Beneath these articles there were the branches of Ak tree and then a dead body was found. On the dead body was a shirt (Ex. 1), salwar (Ex. 2) and banian (Ex. 3)- The dead body and these various articles were at once recognized by Allahdin and others to be of Abdul Salam deceased. All these articles were seized and the recovery memo. (Ex. P/9) prepared.

(3.) WE may here point out that those in charge of investigation should have sent the bones for further examination to an expert who could say whether these bones belonged to a male or female and could further give opinion also on the age of the person whose bones they were, and it is to be regretted that this was not done, but from the other circumstances which were proved in this case, we are left in no manner of doubt that the dead body recovered was of Abdul Salam.