- (1.) These statutory appeals are filed under Section 2(a) of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 and under Section 379 of the Criminal Procedure Code against the final judgment and order dated 18/20.12.2006 passed by the High Court of Delhi in Criminal Appeal No. 193 of 2006 whereby the High Court reversed the order of acquittal dated 21.02.2006 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi, in Sessions Case No. 105 of 2001 and convicted Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma (appellant in Crl. A. No. 179 of 2007) under Section 302, 201/120B IPC and Section 27 of the Arms Act and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 IPC together with a fine of Rs.50,000/- to be paid to the family of the victim and in default of payment of fine, to undergo further imprisonment for three years and also sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for four years for the offence under Section 27 of the Arms Act with a fine of Rs.2000/- and in default to further undergo imprisonment for three months. He was further sentenced to undergo imprisonment for four years for the offence under Section 201/120B IPC together with a fine of Rs. 2,000 and, in default, to further undergo imprisonment for three months. The High Court also sentenced Amardeep Singh Gill @ Tony Gill (appellant in Crl.A. No. 157/2007) and Vikas Yadav (appellant in Crl. A.No.224/2007) to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years and a fine of Rs.2000/- each and, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo imprisonment for three months under Section 201/120B IPC.
(2.) The case of the prosecution: (a) On night intervening 29-30.04.1999, a 'Thursday Party' was going on at Qutub Colonnade at "Once upon a time" restaurant also called "Tamarind Cafi". The liquor was being served by the bartenders, namely, Jessica Lal (since deceased) and one Shyan Munshi (PW-2). At about 2.00 a.m., Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma (appellant in Crl. A. No. 179 of 2007) along with his friends came there and asked for two drinks. The waiter did not serve him liquor as the party was over. Jessica Lal and Malini Ramani (PW-6), who were also present there, tried to make him understand that the party was over and there was no liquor available with them. On refusal to serve liquor, the appellant took out a pistol and fired one shot at the roof and another at Jessica Lal which hit near her left eye as a result of which she fell down. Beena Ramani (PW-20), who was present there, stopped the appellant and questioned him as to why he had shot Jessica Lal and demanded the weapon from him but he did not hand over the pistol and fled away. Jessica Lal was rushed to Ashlok Hospital from where she was shifted to Apollo Hospital. On 30.04.1999, in the early morning hours, Jessica Lal was declared brought dead at Apollo Hospital. (b) On the night intervening 29/30.04.1999 at 2.20 a.m., DD Entry No. 41 A (Ex. PW-13/A) was recorded at Police Station Mehrauli which disclosed a shooting incident at H- 5/6 Qutub Colonnade. A copy of the said DD entry was handed over to SI Sharad Kumar (PW-78) who along with Ct. Meenu Mathew left for the spot. Near about the same time, copy of the said DD entry was also given to SI Sunil Kumar (PW-100) who along with Ct. Subhash also left for the spot. On reaching the spot, PW-78 found that the injured had been removed to Ashlok Hospital and the floor of the Restaurant was found to be wet. SI Sunil Kumar (PW-100) then left SI Sharad Kumar (PW-78) at the spot to guard the same and proceeded to Ashlok Hospital along with Ct. Subhash. The SHO Police Station Mehrauli, Inspector S.K. Sharma (PW-101) along with his team also left the Police Station vide DD Entry No. 43 A and reached the spot and deputed one Home Guard Shravan Kumar (PW 30) at the entrance of 'Qutub Colonnade' to guard the vehicles. On reaching Ashlok Hospital, PW-100 met Beena Ramani (PW-20), who is the owner of the Restaurant, and enquired about the incident but she asked him to talk to Shyan Munshi (PW-2) saying that he was inside and he knew everything. PW-100 then recorded the statement of PW-2 and made an endorsement on the same for the registration of the case under Section 307 IPC and handed over it to Ct. Subhash to be carried to the police station, Mehrauli. At about 4.00 a.m., FIR No. 287/99 was registered at the police station, Mehrauli. In the meantime, Jessica Lal had been shifted to Apollo Hospital. When SI Sunil Kumar came back to the spot along with PW-2, PW 30 informed them about the lifting of one black Tata Safari from the spot. On inspection of the site, two empty cartridges were seized and, in the meantime, a supplementary statement of PW-2 was also recorded by PW-100. At about 5.45 a.m., PW- 100 received an information by Ct. Satyavan intimating him about the death of Jessica Lal at Apollo Hospital. Charge under Section 302 IPC/201/120 B IPC and under Section 27 of the Arms Act has been framed against the accused Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma, charge under Section 201/120B IPC has been framed against accused Vikas Yadav, Amardeep Singh Gill @ Tony Gill and Alok Khanna, charge under Section 212 IPC has been framed against Harvinder Chopra, Raja Chopra, Vikas Gill @ Ruby Gill and Yograj Singh and charge under Section 201/212 IPC against Shyam Sunder Sharma. At about 7.00 a.m. PW 100 recorded the statement of the Manager (PW-47), Waiter (PW-46) and Beena Ramani (PW-20)- the owner of the Restaurant. (c) The post mortem was conducted at about 11.30 a.m. at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on the same day i.e. 30.04.1999. In the meantime, at about 11.00 a.m., SI Pankaj Malik (PW-85) had been sent to Chandigarh to secure the black Tata Safari and to arrest the appellant. PW-100 recorded the statements of the witnesses. On 30.04.1999 at about 4.15 p.m., an FIR was registered against Malini Ramani (PW-6), Beena Ramani (PW-20) and George Mailhot (PW-24) under Sections 61/68/1/14 of the Punjab Excise Act. At about 8.30 p.m., PW-100 handed over the investigation to SHO S.K. Sharma (PW-101). On the night intervening 30.04.1999/01.05.1999, at about 2 a.m., the police raided the farm house of the appellant and on search being conducted seized a photograph of the appellant. On 02.05.1999, a list of invited guests was prepared by PW- 24. On the same day, around 10.00 p.m., PW-101, got an information that a black Tata Safari has been found by the U.P. Police (Sector 24, Noida Police Station) and on the next day PW-101 went to Noida Police Station and seized the said black Tata Safari. On 05.05.1999 at about 2.30 a.m., Amardeep Singh Gill @ Tony Gill and Alok Khanna were arrested and from their alleged disclosure statements, the involvement of Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma was confirmed. On the same day, Inspector Raman Lamba (PW 87) who was in Chandigarh with his team intimated the lawyer of the accused- appellant that Manu Sharma is required in the case. On receipt of the information, on 06.05.1999, the appellant surrendered before PW-87 and was later arrested at about 2.20 p.m. and brought to Delhi. On 07.05.1999, the police produced the appellant before the Metropolitan Magistrate and sought police remand for effecting recovery of the alleged weapon of offence. An application for conducting Test Identification Parade (TIP) of the appellant was also moved. Thereafter, the appellant was remanded to five days police custody till 12.05.1999 and thereafter on 12.05.1999 extended till 17.05.1999 on the application of the I.O., but on 15.05.1999, the appellant's remand was preponed from 17.05.1999 to 15.05.1999. On 16.05.99, the appellant was sent to judicial custody. On 30.05.1999, the accused-Vikas Yadav was also arrested. After the completion of investigation, the other accused persons were also arrested. (d) On 03.08.1999, charge sheet was filed against ten accused persons. On 23.11.2000, the Additional Sessions Judge framed charges against the appellant/Manu Sharma under Sections 302, 201 read with 120 B IPC and Section 27 of the Arms Act, accused Amardeep Singh Gill was charged under Section 120 read with Section 201 IPC, accused Vikas Yadav was charged under Section 120 read with 201 IPC as also Section 201 read with 34 IPC, accused Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Yograj Singh and Raja Chopra under Section 212 IPC and accused Alok Khanna, Shyam Sunder Sharma and Amit Jhingan were discharged of all the offences. In 2000/2001, Revision Petition No. 596 of 2000 was preferred by the prosecution before the High Court of Delhi praying for the framing of charge against the accused persons and setting aside the discharge of Alok Khanna, Shyam Sunder Sharma and Amit Jhingan. Revision Petitions were also preferred by the accused persons against the framing of the charges against them. The High Court disposed of all the revision petitions filed by the accused persons by a common order dated 13.03.2001. On 12.04.2001, charges as per the orders of the High Court were framed and some of the charges as framed earlier were maintained. Charges under Section 120B/201 IPC were framed against accused Vikas Yadav, Amardeep Singh Gill @ Tony Gill and Alok Khanna and charges under Sections 201 and 212 IPC were framed against accused Shyam Sunder Sharma. Against the rest of the accused, the charges as framed on 23.11.2000 by the trial Court were maintained. Trial began in May, 2001 against nine accused. In all, 101 witnesses were examined by the prosecution and two court witnesses were also examined. (e) On 12.12.2001, the case registered against Malini Ramani, Beena Ramani and George Mailhot under the Punjab Excise Act was disposed of with a direction to pay a fine of Rs.200/- each. On 28.01.2002, the appellant was released on interim bail for a period of six weeks by the order of the High Court dated 25.01.2002 with a direction to surrender after the expiry of the same. In compliance with the conditions of interim bail, the appellant surrendered on 11.3.2002 but again sought for and granted interim bail for a period of ten weeks starting from 20.03.2002. During the period from March 2002 to February 2006, the appellant was enlarged on bail on different occasions by various orders of the High Court. On one occasion, against the dismissal of the bail application by the High Court on 11.11.2003, the appellant filed a special leave petition before this Court which was dismissed by this Court on 02.12.2003. On 21.02.2006, after trial, the Additional Sessions Judge acquitted all the nine accused including the appellant- Manu Sharma. (f) Challenging the acquittal, the prosecution filed an appeal before the High Court being Crl. Appeal No. 193 of 2006. On 20.12.2006, the High Court vide the impugned order, convicted and sentenced the appellants, as mentioned in paragraphs above. Challenging the said order of the High Court, all the three appellants filed above mentioned separate appeals before this Court. All the appeals were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.
(3.) Heard Mr. Ram Jethmalani, learned senior counsel for Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma, appellant in Crl. A. No. 179 of 2007, Mr. Nitin Sangra, learned counsel for Amardeep Singh Gill @ Tony Gill, appellant in Crl.A. No. 157/2007, Mr. Ranbir Yadav, learned counsel for Vikas Yadav, appellant in Crl. A.No.224/2007, Mr. Gopal Subramanium, learned Solicitor General of India for Respondent-State in all the three appeals and Mrs. Mamta Dhody Kalra, intervenor, who appeared in person and pleaded for acquittal of the appellant-Manu Sharma.;