TEHAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Tehalsingh has filed this appeal against his conviction and sentence passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge No. 1, Sriganganagar on 28-10-86. He has been convicted under S.302, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 5000/-; in default, three years' rigorous imprisonment. He has also been convicted under S.27 of the Indian Arms Act and sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs. 1000/-; in default of payment of which, to further rigorous imprisonment for six months.

(2.) The prosecution story may be briefly stated here. There was a truck owners' union at Ganganagar. Formerly, accused Tehalsingh was the President thereof. According to the prosecution, he was removed from the Presidentship of that Union. However, according to the defence, he himself had resigned from that post. Be that as it may, it is admitted on both the sides that there had been disputes between accused Tehalsingh and the prosecution witnesses Prithvi Raj and Kishanlal on account of the affairs of the Union. According to the prosecution, on the fateful day i.e. 28-6-85, Prithvi Raj (P.W. 1) and Kishanlal (P.W. 2), who are the members of the union had reached the office of the Union at about 6.00 p.m. on hearing the call for the trucks along with some other persons (truck owners). The other persons left the place after sometime, but Prithvi Raj and Kishanlal stayed back and they sat down on the chairs lying near the 'bud' tree in the compound of the union office. At about 6.30 p.m., Gurubux Singh Narang (hereinafter referred to as 'Narang') also joined them and they were having talks regarding the purchase of a truck in their partnership. It is alleged that while they were so talking, Tehalsingh whose house is towards the South of the union office came on his roof, called them out and told them that they were having groupism for the last so many days and saying so, he-fired his rifle towards them. This fire hit Narang on the forehead over the right-eye. He stumbled and fell down on the chair on which he was sitting. It is further alleged that Tehalsingh re-loaded his gun and wanted to fire another shot, but, in the meantime, Prithvi Raj and Kishanlal ran away and took shelter in the office of the union. However, Tehalsingh fired the second shot while these persons were entering the office of the truck union. Prakash Chandra (P.W. 3) who was Munshi in the union office was present there and Prithvi Raj and Kishanlal told him of this incident and asked him to ring up to the police. Accordingly, Prakash Chandra informed the police station, Kotwali, Ganganagar, on phone. After sometime, the police reached there. The case of the prosecution, further is that during this time also, Tehalsingh continued to be present on the roof of his house and he also fired his gun again in the air at the time the police reached there. The police surrounded the house of Tehalsingh under the leadership of Jilesingh (P.W. 10), S.H.O. He was asked to come down and was apprehended. He was still then holding the gun. Then, the statement of Prithvi Raj was recorded by Jilesingh (P.W. 10) and the same was sent to the police station for a case under S.302, I.P.C. and S.27 of the Arms Act to be registered. It may be mentioned here that on receiving the telephonic message, Shri Jilesingh took it down in the Rajnamcha vide Ex. P/24, copy of which is Ex. P24/A, but according to him, the information was not complete and was ambiguous. Therefore, the case was not registered an the basis of that information and was later registered on the basis of the statement of Prithvi Raj, recorded by Jilesingh at the spot.

(3.) Jilesingh, then inspected the dead-body of Narang and prepared a Panehayatnama (Ex. P/12), as also inquest report Ex. P/3. He also inspected the site and prepared a site plan Ex. P/4 and a site inspection note Ex. P4/A. He also recovered the bloodstained as well as the control soil from the spot vide Ex. P/5. 'Pagri' of the deceased as also the pair of the shoes and a sum of Rs. 427. Two cash-memos and a paper containing some account were also taken into possession by the police vide Ex. P/7. Accused Tehalsingh was formally arrested and the gun was taken possession of vide Ex. P/8. It is alleged that he gave information vide Ex. P/26 in respect of three empties of 315 bore and two live cartridges of 315 bore and in pursuance of that information the same were recovered. He also produced a bag containing 58 live cartridges of 315 bore vide Ex. P/9. A metallic object, i.e. part of the bullet was also found lying near the Northern wall of the compound of the union office and that also was taken in possession vide Ex. P/21 and their negatives are Ex. P/12A to P/21A, The dead-body of the deceased Narang was got examined by the medical jurist Dr. Rajendra Kumar (P.W. 9) and post-mortem report (Ex. P/22) was prepared by him, According to this report, he had found the following injuries on the person of Narang : "(i) Lacerated wound 1" X 1" Brain deep on the occipital region Right Side Post, Margins inverted. (ii) Lacerated wound 6" X 3" X Brain Matter coming out on the Rt. front paret of Temporal region. Bones fractured. Margins inverted." He also found the vault of skull and base of the skull on the Right side fractured in the multiple pieces. Brain and membrances lacerated in pieces. Infra crenial haemorrhage present. According to him, both the injuries were due to fire arms. Injury No. 1 was wound of entry and injury No. 2 was wound of exist. There was no blackening tattooing and scorching present around the wound. According to him, the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage as a result of injury to brain due to firearm. He had also opined that the distance of the firearm was more than 2-3 yards. The recovered gun, cartridges, empties and the metallic object were sent for examination by ballistic expert. After completing investigation, a challan was put up against the accused and he was committed to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Sriganganagar, from where it was transferred to the learned Additional. Sessions Judge, Sriganganagar Charges for offences under S.302, I.P.C. and S.27 of the Arms Act were framed against him. He pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. Thereupon, the prosecution examined 11 witnesses and produced a number of documents. In his statement under S.313, Cr. P.C., the accused denied the prosecution story. He urged that while he was the President (Pradhan) of the truck union, Prithvi Raj, Kishanlal, Loola Ram etc. tried to get their trucks loaded out of turn and he did not allow them to do so. Therefore, they were inimical towards him, although he did not have any grudge against them. He Later left the post of Pradhan. He also stated that the prosecution witnesses are inter-related and Prakash Chandra was a man belonging to the group of Prithvi Raj and Kishanlal and, therefore, he had given a false statement. His case, further, was that the roof of Jarnelsingh was lower by 2-3 feet from his own roof and in between, there was a telephone wire and therefore, it was not possible to come to Jarnelsingh's roof from his own roof. It was stated by him that he was arrested by the police on that day at about 10 or 10.30 p.m. His rifle and cartridges were also recovered by the police, but they were not sealed. However, he did not produce any evidence in defence. After considering the material on record and hearing the learned A.P.P. and the learned counsel for the accused, the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted and sentenced Tehalsingh as aforesaid.