- (1.) This appeal by way of special leave arises out of the following facts: At about 9.20 a.m. on the 26th November 1993 PW-16 Sohan Lal, the brother of the deceased Siri Krishan, was out for a morning walk when he was informed by his neighbour Vijay Kumar that some persons had come in a white coloured Maruti car and had halted in front of Siri Krishan and had fired shots at him causing him serious injury. Sohan Lal PW-16 then rushed to the site and removed Siri Krishan to the Government hospital where he was declared brought dead on arrival. His statement was then recorded by PW-24 Sub-Inspector Gurcharan Singh in the Government hospital who reached there on receiving information from the doctor. The Inspector inspected the dead body and took steps to have it subjected to a post- mortem. He also visited the place of occurrence and recovered several empty cartridges and a spent bullet from the spot. Inspector Om Parkash PW-23 also went to the site of the murder at 12.30 p.m. and recorded the statements of PW-11 Sohan Lal son of Anant Lal and PW-12 Bhagat Lal son of Banarsi Dass at 1:30 p.m. who claimed to be the eye witnesses to the murder. He also recorded the statement of PW-13 Pushpa Devi, the widow of the deceased, who gave the information that Daulat Ram had a property dispute with her husband and this murder had been committed as a consequence of the conspiracy hatched by him along with his co-accused. Further investigation was also done by PW- 27 Inspector Gordhan Singh. He arrested Daulat Ram on the 4th January 1994, and Prem Singh accused 10 days later from Tihar Jail where he was already incarcerated in some other criminal case. Prem Singh was also sought to be produced for a test identification parade but he declined to do so. Ballu accused was arrested on the 18th January 1994 and a pistol was recovered on a statement made by him, Vishwa Bandhu accused was arrested on the 23rd January 1994 and an effort was made to put him up for an identification but he too declined the offer. The other two accused Radhey Shyam and Surinder were arrested on the 19th April 1994 and 27th May 1994 respectively. On the completion of the investigation, the accused were charged for offences under Sections 302/149 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act and were accordingly brought to trial.
(2.) The prosecution in support of its case placed primary reliance on the testimony of PW-11 Sohan Lal and PW-12 Bharat Lal who claimed to be the eye witnesses to the murder, PW-13 Pushpa Devi who deposed to the property dispute between her husband and Daulat Ram accused and PW-16-Sohan Lal the first informant, who had received the information of the murder from Vijay Kumar. Vijay Kumar was, however, not examined. The Trial Court observed that on the basis of the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, as led, no evidence whatsoever had been spelt out against Satish and Surinder and they were accordingly acquitted even prior to the recording of the statements of the accused under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C. The Trial Court then, very comprehensively, examined the evidence against the other accused and recorded several reasons which have been spelt out by the High Court in its judgment and we quote therefrom herein below: "(i) Vijay Kumar who informed PW-16 Sohan Lal, brother of the deceased about the occurrence, was not examined, which was necessary for unfolding of the narrative of the prosecution. (ii) PW-11 Sohan Lal and PW-12 Bharat Lal were falsely introduced as eye witnesses. Both of them claimed to have come from Punjab about two months prior to the occurrence. One of them shifted back to Sunam. They did not have any proof of residence of Karnal. PW-11 Sohan Lal was employee of brother-in- law of the deceased. They did not go to the police station to lodge the report. Their names were mentioned in the FIR. Their versions were discrepant on the issue of the person who caught hold of the deceased Satish or Ballu. Their normal conduct was to be to go to the house of the deceased to give information. There were further discrepancies in their versions about the direction from which the car came. (iii) Recoveries and linkage of pistols with the empty cartridges was not free doubt. (iv) Identification in Court was not reliable. (v) The accused were arrested from one or the other lock up and could have been shown to the witnesses. (vi) No adverse inference could be drawn by their refusing to take in the TIP. (vii) Charge of conspiracy was without any basis."
(3.) The trial court accordingly acquitted all the accused of the charges leveled against them. An appeal was thereafter filed in the High Court by the State of Haryana against the acquittal of 5 of the accused, that is Daulat Ram, Prem Singh, Ballu, Radhey Shyam and Vishwa Bandhu. The High Court has, vide its judgment under challenge before us, confirmed the acquittal of Daulat Ram, Ballu @ Vijender and Radhey Shyam accused and dismissed the appeal but has set aside the judgment qua Prem Singh and Vishwa Bandhu and they have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence under Section 302/34 etc. The present appeal has been filed by Prem Singh alone.;