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2004 DIGILAW 1545 (RAJ)

Vivek Kalra v. State of Rajasthan

2004-10-25

R.P.VYAS, SHIV KUMAR SHARMA

body2004
Judgment R.P. Vyas, J.-This Jail appeal is directed against the Judgment dated March 2, 2002, passed by the learned Additional District & Sessions Judge (Fast Track), Ajmer, whereby accused-appellant Vivek Kalra was convicted and sentenced under Section 302, IPC, to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo three months’ simple imprisonment. .2. Briefly stated, the prosecution case is that on June 8, 1997, one Lal Shing S/o. Ladu Singh lodged a written report with the Police Station, Adarsh Nagar, Ajmer to the effect that he is running a .tea stall at By-pass Road, Sedariya Tiraha and is also residing there. On the day of the occurrence, i.e., June 8, 1997, at around 8 a.m., a truck driver informed him that a dead-body of a boy is lying in the pool of blood on the wall of a bridge, ahead of Shantinath Dharm Kanta. On receiving this information, he went to the scene of the incident and saw that the dead-body of a boy, aged about 13-14 years, having fair complexion and 1 inch grown brown hair on his head, wearing a printed ready-made blood stained Bushirt and purple coloured Jeans, is lying there. The dead-body had a sharp-edged deep wound on his left ear. Both the walls of the bridge were also smeared with blood. It was also stated in the written report that a small pair of ‘chappals’, allegedly belonging to be that of the deceased child, one blood stained pair of big size leather ‘chappals’ and a blood stained iron “Dantli” are also lying there. It was also stated that probably, someone brought the deceased child here, committed his murder and kept his dead body on the bridge. 3. On the basis of the aforesaid report, First Information Report No. 96/97 under Section 302, IPC, was registered at the Adarsh Nagar Police Station, Ajmer and the investigation commenced. 4. During the course of investigation, an inquest report of the dead-body was prepared, the dead-body was kept in the Mortuary at J.L.M. Hospital, Ajmer for identification, site was inspected, a blood-stained “Dantli”, a pair of ‘chappals’ of deceased, a pair of blood-stained ‘chappals’ of accused Vivek Kalra, controlled and blood smeared soils were seized and sealed. The Investigating Officer recorded the statement of the complainant-Lalsingh, father of the deceased-Gurucharan Kalra and other witnesses. The Investigating Officer recorded the statement of the complainant-Lalsingh, father of the deceased-Gurucharan Kalra and other witnesses. The dead-body of the deceased Ankit Kumar @ Nannu was identified by his father-Gurucharan Kalra as that of his son, autopsy was conducted, accused Vivek Kalra was arrested and on his information under Section 27 of the Evidence Act and at his instance, one Scooter No. RJ 03-4M-5700 was seized from Beawar and blood-stained clothes of the accused Vivek Kalra were also seized from the dicky of the Scooter and, thereafter, they were sealed by the Investigating Officer. Blood group of the accused was ascertained. A Roadways ticket from Beawar to Jaipur was also seized. The bed-head ticket of the accused Vivek Kalra, who was admitted in S.M.S. Hospital, Jaipur on June 8, 1997, was also taken into possession. The accused was medically examined. A prescription (slip) of Government Harvans Kanwatia Hospital, Jaipur, bearing signatures of accused Vivek Kalra and Dr. Surendra Aabusariya, on which accused himself had written in his hand-writing that he does not want to proceed with MLC (police-case), was also taken in to possession from the hospital. Necessary documents-a duty chart of V.K. Video Movie Register and relevant record of Roadways were also collected. The damaged scooter was photographed and six seized and sealed packets were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Jaipur, for examination. 5. The Investigating Officer found that a Fixed Deposit (FD) of accused Vivek Kalra, amounting to Rs. 80,000/-was lying with Shri Gurucharan Kalra-the father of the deceased Ankit Kumar Kalra. Gurucharan Kalra happens to be the real uncle of the accused Vivek Kalra. There was altercation between Gurucharan Kalra and accused Vivek Kalra regarding that F.D. Gurucharan Kalra had stated the accused Vivek Kalra that his F.D. of Rs. 80,000/-is lying with him, so he will utilize that money at the time of marriage of accused Vivek Kalra. The accused was a habitual gambler. He thought that his uncle Gurucharan Kalra will not return him the aforesaid amount of F.D. So, in order to take revenge from his uncle Gurucharan Kalra and kill his son-Ankit Kumar (the deceased), he got prepared and purchased an iron “Dantli” from the iron-smith. The Investigating Officer also found that during the summer vacations, the deceased Ankit Kumar had come to the house of his Aunt (Smt. Shakuntala Devi) at Ajmer. The Investigating Officer also found that during the summer vacations, the deceased Ankit Kumar had come to the house of his Aunt (Smt. Shakuntala Devi) at Ajmer. On June 7, 1997, the parents of the deceased informed his Aunt that they were coming to take Ankit on the next day. When accused Vivek Kalra came to know about this, he made a plan in advance to do away with Ankit on June 7, 1997 itself and, under the pretext of bringing cassettes, he took the deceased-Ankit with him on Scooter No. RJ 01-4-M5700 towards Nareli RAC Battalion and murdered Ankit with “Dantli”, which he had earlier got prepared and purchased, in advance, from the ironsmith-Jagdish, at the time of preparing the plan. 6. On completion of investigation, the Police filed a challan under Section 302, IPC, against accused Vivek Kalra in the Court of the Additional District & Sessions Judge (Fast Track), Ajmer. The learned trial Court framed charge under Section 302, IPC, against the accused Vivek Kalra and read over to him. He pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. .7. In support of its case, the prosecution examined as many as 34 witnesses (PW 1 to PW 34) and produced forty-six documents (Ex.P-1 to Ex.P-46). In defence, the accused produced no .evidence. However, during the course of investigation, the statements of the witnesses (Ex. D-1 to Ex.D-7) were recorded by the Police. The statement of the accused under Section 313, CrPC, was recorded by the trial Court. He denied the alleged charges and stated that he has been falsely implicated by his uncle Gurucharan Kalra and Advocate Naresh Arora. 8. The learned trial Court, after hearing the learned Counsel for the accused Vivek Kalra, as well as learned Public Prosecutor for the State and perusing the documents available on record, convicted and sentenced the accused appellant Vivek Kalra under Section 302, IPC, vide its Judgment dated March 2, 2002, as mentioned above. 9. Being aggrieved by the Judgment dated March 2, 2002, the accused-appellant Vivek Kalra has preferred this Jail appeal. 10. It is contended by the learned amicus curiae for the appellant that the findings of the trial Court are against the facts and material on record. She further contended that the learned trial Court has erred in law in not taking into consideration the proper appreciation of prosecution witnesses in its right perspective. 10. It is contended by the learned amicus curiae for the appellant that the findings of the trial Court are against the facts and material on record. She further contended that the learned trial Court has erred in law in not taking into consideration the proper appreciation of prosecution witnesses in its right perspective. She also contended that the trial Court has erred in law in not taking into consideration the defence version in its right perspective. According to her, this is a case of circumstantial, evidence and the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubts against the accused-appellant. 11. In support of her contention, learned Counsel for the appellant has referred to the cases of Jaharlal Das vs. State of Orissa, 1991 (3) SCC 27 , Omwati vs. Mahendra Singh, 1998 CrLJ 401 , Daulat Ram vs. State of Punjab, 1997 (10) SCC 236 , Damber vs. State of U.P., 1993 CrLJ 3745 and Jagta vs. State of Haryana, 1974 CrLJ 1010 . But, in the facts and circumstances of the instant case, none of the authorities is of any help or assistance to her, as the prosecution has succeeded in establishing its case against the accused Vivek Kalra beyond all reasonable doubts. 10.12. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor has supported the Judgment of the trial Court and vehemently contended that it is a full proof case from point of view of prosecution testimony, as well as medical evidence coupled with the serological evidence, which led to establish the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubts and, in a gruesome murder of a minor boy, the accused appellant Vivek Kalra has rightly been convicted by the trial Court. Therefore, the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial Court should be upheld. 113. Learned Public Prosecutor also contended that all the prosecution witnesses are creditworthy witnesses. During cross-examination, their testimony remained unshattered. Apart from that, Dr. B.K. Mathur (PW. 20), who conducted the post-mortem examination of deceased Ankit Kumar S/o. Gurucharan, has opined that the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage. He also opined that all the injuries, particularly injury No. 2, which was inflicted with sharp-edged weapon “Dantli” on the neck of the deceased, was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. All the injuries were ante-mortem in nature. Similarly, PW. 24 Dr. He also opined that all the injuries, particularly injury No. 2, which was inflicted with sharp-edged weapon “Dantli” on the neck of the deceased, was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. All the injuries were ante-mortem in nature. Similarly, PW. 24 Dr. Seema Gupta has deposed that on requisition, she has ascertained the blood group of the accused Vivek Kalra as ‘B’ positive, which stands further testified from the FSL Report (Ex.P-46). PW. 34 Durgaram, the Investigating Officer, has deposed that “Dantli” was recovered on the information and at the instance of the accused. He has given sequence of events in detail while deposing before the Court. He was cross-examined at length, but nothing came out from his statement which may enable us to draw an adverse inference against him. 114. We have heard learned Counsel for the parties and scanned & scrutinized the evidence available on record. So far accused Vivek Kalra is concerned, nothing has been elicited in the cross-examination of the witnesses to discredit their testimony. Their statements find corroboration from the post mortem report and serological examination report. In our view, the prosecution witnesses are truthful witnesses. .15. It may be mentioned that when accused is convicted on the basis of the circumstantial evidence, such evidence must satisfy the following tests :- .(1) the circumstances from which an inference of guilt is sought to be drawn, must be cogently and firmly established; .(2) those circumstances should be of a definite tendency unerringly pointing towards guilt of the accused; .(3) thecircumstances, taken cumulativaly, should form a chain so complete that there is no escape from the conclusion that within all human probability the crime was committed by the accused .and none else; and .(4) the circumstantial evidence in order to sustain conviction must be complete and incapable of explanation on any other hypothesis than that of the guilt of the accused and such evidence should not only be consistent with the guilt of the accused but should be inconsistent with his innocence. 16. In the instant case, the deceased was last seen in the company of the accused. The motive for committing the crime was the amount of Fixed Deposit. The accused was a habitual gambler, so he wanted the money. 16. In the instant case, the deceased was last seen in the company of the accused. The motive for committing the crime was the amount of Fixed Deposit. The accused was a habitual gambler, so he wanted the money. The amount of FD was not given to him by Gurucharan Kalra, the father of the deceased, as he had decided to utilize that amount at the time of the marriage of the accused. Therefore, in order to take revenge, the accused had purchased a “Dantli” in advance and had intended to commit gruesome crime by inflicting a number of fatal blows on the neck of the deceased. Not only the ingredients of motive and intention are proved, but the accused had sufficient knowledge that the weapon “Dantli”, by which he is inflicting mercilessly fatal blows on the neck of the minor Ankit, would be sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, which stands proved from the testimony of Dr. B.K. Mathur (PW . 22). Apart from that, so far as human blood is concerned, it stands proved from the FSL report that human origin blood was found on the seized articles including “Dantli” sent to FSL for examination. The conduct of the accused in taking Ankit with him under the pretext of bringing cassettes and, after committing the gruesome crime, fleeing from the scene of the incident, reaching Jaipur and getting treatment at the hospital, writing on the slip of the hospital that he does not want to proceed with the police case, chalking out a false story of accident at the Sindhi Camp Bus Stand by an unknown vehicle, also reflects abnormality is his deeds. If all the sequence of events and circumstances are taken cumulatively, they form a chain so complete that there is no escape from the conclusion that within all human probability, the crime was committed by the accused Vivek Kalra alone and none else. All the circumstances conclusively lead to the guilt of the accused, so the conviction and sentence recorded by the trial Court deserve to be maintained. 17. For these reasons, we do not find any merit in the instant Jail appeal and the same stands dismissed.