SUSHIL CHOUDHURY Vs. THE STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the convict, the appellant hereinafter, under Sec. 374(2) of the Cr.P.C. against the judgment dated 14.07.2014 delivered in Sessions Trial No. 164 of 2013 by the Addl. Sessions Judge, No. 4, West Tripura, Agartala. By the said judgment dated 14.07.2014, the appellant has been convicted under Sec. 302 read with Ss. 120B and 109 of the I.P.C. The appellant has been further convicted by the same judgment under Ss. 120B/109 read with Sec. 109 of the I.P.C., under Sec. 302 read with Ss. 111 and 113 of the I.P.C. and under Sec. 201 of the I.P.C. As consequence of the said judgment, by the order dated 17.07.2014, the appellant has been sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life, meaning the whole natural life i.e. till his death, for committing the offence punishable under Sec. 302 read with Ss. 120B and 109 of the I.P.C. with fine of Rs. 50,000/ - (Rupees Fifty thousand). The appellant has been further sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of 3(three) years for commission of the offence punishable under Ss. 120B, 109 read with Sec. 34 of the I.P.C. and to pay fine of Rs. 5,000/ - (Rupees Five thousand). He has been further sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life for committing the offence punishable under Sec. 302 read with Ss. 111 and 113 of the I.P.C. with fine of Rs. 10,000/ - (Rupees ten thousand). The appellant has been sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 2(two) years for committing the offence punishable under Sec. 201 of the I.P.C. with fine of Rs. 5,000/ - (Rupees five thousand). It has been directed that the sentences shall run concurrently and the fine if not realized that shall be leviable in terms of Sec. 70 of the I.P.C.

(2.) Genesis of the prosecution against the appellant is rooted in the ejahar filed by Smt. Niyati Deb (Ghosh), PW -40 on 19.05.2013 disclosing that on 19.05.2013 when her daughter Papiya Ghosh (PW -1) was inside their room, she heard some sounds from the upstairs of their room. Her daughter also told her that some sounds were coming from the upstairs of their room where the office of Ranjit Choudhury was situated. Reacting to that, she came out from her room and went to the ground floor of Ganadoot Office and found that 'one youth (aged around 25 -26 years wearing jeans and green coloured ganjee had been stabbing Sujit Bhattacharjee, Proof Reader with the help of a dagger by way of felling him down on the floor inside the office, seeing this I had called my husband, Balaram Ghosh raising alarm then at first daughter, namely, Papiya came out from our room and seeing the incident she started crying. In the meantime the accused have been stabbing Sujit with the help of a dagger. My husband came out from the room and seeing this incident cried out and proceeded to resist. Then the said miscreants had stabbed my husband and my husband fell down on the floor. Just at that time (I) found another miscreant was coming to the ground floor through the stair cases from the office room of Ranjit Choudhury on the upstairs. I found a wire in his hand. His age was also around 25 -26 years. They i.e. 2 (two) miscreants had fled away after killing two persons on the ground floor with the help of the dagger and killing another named Ranjit Choudhury, Manager in the upstairs which I found after going over there. On getting an information of the said incident, the police personnel came to the place of the occurrence and sent these 3(three) severely injured persons to the hospital and a few minutes later (I) came to learn that my husband and other 2(two) injured persons had succumbed to the stab injuries caused by this miscreants.' (As translated by the translation department of this Court from her statement as recorded by the police officer at the place of occurrence, Exbt. 19)

(3.) Based on the said ejahar, which was received at 17.15 hours of 19.05.2013, West Agartala Police Station Case No. 148 of 2013 was registered and taken up for investigation. From the records as produced, it appears that on 19.05.2013 which was a Sunday, the ghastly murder of 3(three) persons, namely Ranjit Choudhury, Sujit Bhattacharjee and Balaram Ghosh had taken place. Balaram Ghosh was the husband of the informant (PW -40). It can be estimated from the records that the time of occurrence was between 1.15 pm. to 3.00 pm. On 19.05.2013 at about 3.25 pm, Sri Sanjoy Biswas (PW -39), Officer -in -Charge of West Agartala Police Station received a cryptic telephonic information from the appellant that 'an havoc incident' had taken place in the Ganadoot Patrika Complex. Since PW -39 received the information from outside the police station, he immediately instructed the duty officer, namely Sri Arun Chandra Das (PW -21) of his police station to record the said information, which was reduced in writing the General Diary, the G.D. in short, against the G.D. entry No. 1088, Exbt. D. PW -21 relayed the said information to Sri Manash Paul, a Sub -Inspector of Police (PW -41) and PW -41 rushed to the place of occurrence to verify the matter. PW -41 reached the place of occurrence at about 3.30 pm and found one person sustained serious injuries and he arranged to shift him to IGM hospital, escorted by his wife and daughter. He found one person likely to be dead in the ground floor and another person likely to be dead in the first floor. He made quick arrangement for shifting them to the GBP Hospital accompanied by the police personnel. At about 3.40 pm the entire area of the office complex was cordoned by the police. In the close proximity of time, PW -40 returned from the hospital and about 4 pm her oral ejahar was recorded by PW -39. At 4.15 pm to 4.30 pm the sniffer dogs were engaged for finding out the trail. Simultaneously, FSL expert and the fingerprint expert came to the place of occurrence. PW -41, at the instruction of PW -39, started the investigation immediately thereafter. He prepared the hand sketch map, Exbt. 21 and took photographs of the scene of occurrence. The formal registration of the FIR had taken place at about 5.15 pm. At the direction of the investigating officer, the FSL expert and the fingerprint expert seized physical exhibits from the place of occurrence. At 6.20 pm PW -41 received a requisition from the hospital for sending the dead bodies for postmortem examination. PW -41 himself took photographs of the dead bodies before post mortem examination. At about 8.55 pm. the investigating officer recorded the statement of Papiya Ghosh (PW -1). On 20.05.2013, on completion of the postmortem examination, dead bodies were handed over to their close relatives. The wearing apparels of the dead persons were seized in the hospital in presence of the witnesses. At about 1.35 pm. on 20.05.2013, PW -41 recorded the statement of Smt. Niyati Deb (Ghosh), PW -40 and her daughter Papiya Ghosh (PW -1) again. From the statement of Papiya Ghosh (PW -1), name of one Satyajit Das (PW -6) revealed as the assailant. In the afternoon, the investigating officer came in the same complex and recorded the statement of Maya Choudhury, the wife of the appellant and one Purnima Banik (PW -5). On 21.05.2013, PW -41 examined two persons in the office of another newspaper, namely Ajker Fariad. Those persons were Tapan Chakraborty (PW -26) and Sri Sumit Choudhury (PW -27) to verify about Satyajit Das (PW -5). He found PW -5 was working at his own office on the fateful day. On that day, the appellant by convening a press conference declared financial assistance of Rs. 1,00,000/ - (Rupees one lac) for each of the bereaved families. He had also declared reward of Rs. 10,00,000/ - (Rupees one lac) if any person could assist to trace out the assailants. On 23.05.2013, PW -41 received the postmortem examination report. On 27.05.2013, the seized materials being duly packed by PW -41 were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Narsingarh through the Sub -Divisional Police Officer, Sadar. On that day, PW -41 examined Smt. Jayashree Ghosh (DW -3) and Smt. Purnima Banik (PW -5) again. On 30.05.2013, PW -41 examined Sri Biswajit Bhattacharjee (PW -7), brother of the deceased Sujit Bhattacharjee. On 31.05.2013, PW -41 examined one Prantosh Acharjee (DW -2) and Ramu Banik. On that day Niyati Deb (Ghosh), PW -40 was detained for interrogation and later on, she was arrested in connection with that case. On 01.06.2013, PW -40 was forwarded to the court of the C.J.M and on that day, some wearing apparels of Sujit Bhattacharjee were recovered from the room of PW -40. On 03.06.2013, PW -41 again examined Satyajit Das (PW -6) and one Namita Singha Roy (Ghosh), PW -19. On 04.06.2013, PW -41 examined Smt. Laxmi Rani Das (PW -18) and on 05.06.2013, PW -41 examined one Bikash Banik (PW -8), Sumit Barua and Kalpana Choudhury (PW -9). On that day, PW -41 founds some more clues and with the leave granted by the C.J.M, West Tripura, Agartala, he interrogated PW -40 in the jail custody. On 07.06.2013, the appellant was arrested and he was forwarded to the court of the C.J.M., West Tripura on 08.06.2013. The investigating officer again conducted search in the room of the appellant and seized one half shirt (of maroon colour, one black colour half pant which were the wearing apparels of the appellant on the fateful day). He also seized one clutch wear and one CPU from the office room of the appellant. PW -41 examined on the same day one Kamal Barua (PW -28). On 12.06.2013, PW -41 again went to Ganadoot Patrika Bhawan and seized two cheques, one in the name of PW -40 of Rs. 20,000/ - and the other in the name of PW -1 of Rs. 80,000/ -. Those cheques were sent to the SFSL for examination on 13.06.2013. On 14.06.2013, PW -41 seized two mobile sets belonging to the appellant from his residence at Ganadoot complex. On 25.06.2013, PW -41 collected the SFSL report where it has been opined that no other genetic profile was found at the place of occurrence other than 3 (three) deceased persons. On that day i.e. 25.06.2013, PW -40 submitted a petition before the C.J.M., West Tripura(DW -4) through the Superintendent, Central Jail, Agartala expressing her willingness to make a full and true disclosure of the case. The C.J.M directed the jail authority to produce PW -40 on 26.06.2013 at about 3.00 pm. On 26.06.2013 PW -40 was produced before D.W. -4 on the appointed time and she was orally examined. The CJM called for report from PW -41 against the petition filed by PW -40. On 27.06.2013, I.O submitted his response. In terms thereof and on his assessment, D.W. -4 granted pardon to the accused, PW -40 as per provisions of Sec. 306(1) of the Cr.P.C. on condition of her making a full and true disclosure of the whole of the circumstances of the case within her knowledge relative to the offence. The statement of PW -40 was recorded under Sec. 306(4) (a) of the Cr.P.C. after giving due caution to her. The said statement as recorded by the C.J.M is Exbt. 20. On 28.06.2013, the I.O. received a copy of the statement, Exbt. 20, of PW -40. PW -41 then made a prayer to the C.J.M for adding Ss. 120 -B/194 and 195 of the I.P.C. The C.J.M allowed that prayer. On 02.07.2013, PW -41 examined one Dr. Pradip Kr. Roy (PW -17). On 04.07.2013, PW -41 examined one Ali Ahmed (PW -12), Kapil Ahmed (PW -13) and Muslim Miah (PW -11). On 07.07.2013, PW -41 examined one Sentu Ranjan Chakraborty, Pijush Chakraborty, Balaram Dey (PW -15) and Sri Sailen Paul (PW -16). PW -41 examined 18(eighteen) witnesses on 08.07.2013 and 6(six) witnesses on 19.07.2013. On 23.07.2013, PW -41 submitted the SR (summary report) to the Superintendent of Police for approval for submitting the charge sheet. On 24.07.2013, the approval was received from the Superintendent of Police and PW -41 submitted the charge sheet bearing CS No. 110/2013 dated 24.07.2013 against the appellant under Ss. 120 -B/302/201/194/195 -A of the I.P.C., against the accused No. 2 Balaram Ghosh, since deceased under Ss. 302/120 -B and the accused No. 3, Smt. Niyati Deb(Ghosh), PW -40 under Ss. 302/201/194 of the I.P.C. On 23.08.2013 at the instance of the appellant, PW -40, the approver was cross -examined in the pre -committal stage over her statement Exbt. 20. On 27.11.2013, PW -41 examined some more witnesses and filed a supplementary chargesheet bearing No. 242/2013. Since the offences were exclusively triable by the court of Sessions, the C.J.M. West Tripura committed the police papers to the court of the Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Agartala. The Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Agartala transferred the case, renumbered as ST 164 of 2013, to the court of the Addl. Sessions Judge, No. 4, West Tripura, Agartala for disposal in accordance with law. The said Addl. Sessions Judge, hereinafter referred to as the trial court, framed the charge against the appellant as under: