- (1.) RAJESH Tandon, J. By the present appeal, the accused Surendra Kumar has challenged his conviction under Section 302 I. PC. read with Section 201 I. PC. and Sec tion 34 I. PC. , by which the learned Sessions Judge has awarded him rigor ous imprisonment for life along with co accused Harinath. Here, we are con cerned with only accused Surendra Kumar as only he has preferred the present appeal before us.
(2.) BRIEFLY stated the prosecution story was that on 28-12-1999, a writ ten report was lodged by one Rajesh Kumar, who was associated with Ved Niketan Dham Ashram, to PS. Laxman Jhula stating therein that one Jemison Rassel (deceased), an American citizen was staying in room No. 91 of the Ashram. Further, it has been stated that on 23-12-1999, the two friends of the said American, namely Hillary and Autam came and enquired about the room, in which their friend Jemison Rassel (deceased) was staying. On this he, along with the two women, namely, Hillary and Autam, reached room No. 91 and found the room locked from outside. On 26-12-1999; when the said Jemison Rassel (deceased) did not re turn to Ashram, he opened room No. 91 on the insistence of the said women friends and then, in the said room, one bag (thaila), a watch, a Tiffin, three books, one diary, one pent, one T-shirt and one driving license was found. So far as the driving license is concerned, the said two women friends kept it with themselves for photocopy and the rest of the article were kept in that room. Since, the said American citizen has not returned in the Ashram, therefore, the said information was given. On 4-01-2000 at about 9:10 in the night, Dr. J. Arun Raja Silwan dic tated a report in English to Anil Srivastava, who translated it in Hindi and lodged the report at Police Station Laxman Jhula under Section 365 I. PC. According to the First Information Re port, Dr. J. Arun Raja Silwan was the co-ordinator of Site Programme (South India Term Abroad) at Madurai, in which American students were partici pating. In the year 1999, one American student, namely, Jemison Rassel (de ceased) also participated and on 20 12-1999, he came to Ved Niketan Ashram and stayed in room No. 91, where the two women friends, namely Hillary and Autam came to meet Jemison Rassel. The prosecution story also reveals that on 25- 12-1999 Hillary informed Silwan on telephone that the whereabouts of Jemison Rassel are not known and on this, Silwan along with his assistant came to Laxman Jhula on 28-12-1999 and with the cooperation of the Police Authorities, he searched the said American citizen, namely, Jemison Rassel (deceased), but nothing was found. The investigation was done by Kailash Tiwari, who was the In charge of the Police Station, Laxman Jhula and during the investigation, one Vijay Singh Dhakad (PW. 4) informed that on 22-12-1999, one Surendra Kumar came to his shop along with seven cheques of 20 dollars each, but there was no signature and passport number on that cheques and therefore, the said cheques could not be cashed. On the basis of this information, on 6 01-2000, Surendra Kumar was arrested and at the instance of Surendra Kumar, the two books of the deceased Jemison Rassel and empty bottle of wine was recovered from the Hut (Kutiya) of the co-accused Harinath. Besides this, one bag (thaila), Muflar and one pair of Chappal was also recovered, which were lying beneath the stone on the bark of Ganga River. On 24-01-2000, the co-accused Harinath was also ar rested and from his possession, a cam era and a photocopy of the passport of Jemison Rassel (deceased) was recov ered and on the same day, at the in stance of co-accused Harinath, the dead body of Jemison Rassel was also recovered from the river. On interroga tion from the accused persons the In vestigating Agency revealed that Jamison Russel was done to death by accused Harinath by strangulation with the help of accused Surendra Kumar in side his Kutia at Laxmanjhoola. A charge-sheet was submitted under Section 302/34 I. PC. and 201/ 34 I. PC. against the accused Surendra Kumar and Harinath. Before the Ses sions Judge, both the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. To prove its case, the prosecution has ex amined, in all, 8 witnesses.
(3.) PROSECUTION has examined Anil Srivastava (PW1), who has deposed that in December, 1999 the American Embassy has lodged a report regarding the absconding of the American citizen and Dr. J. Arun Raja Silwan did not know the Hindi and he dictated the First Information Report (Ex. Ka. 1) in English and he translated the same in Hindi. Dr. J. Arun Raja Silwan was ex amined as PW2, who has deposed that he was organizing the Sita Programme as a co-ordinator and from August, 1999 he was doing this and from America, the students were coming to Madurai for study of Hinduism, Indian culture etc. In the first week of August, 1999 one Jemison Rassel (deceased) came from America and stayed with the Sita Programme till the first week of December, 1999 at Madurai. After that, he started visiting the other places and two other students, namely, Hillary and Autam also supposed to meet him on 24-12-1999 at Rishikesh. Jemison Rassel (deceased) was staying at Ved Niketan Ashram and the said two women went to meet him there and then, they informed on telephone re garding the fact that the whereabouts of Jemison Rassel are not known and then on 28-12-1999, he came along with his assistant at Rishikesh and he enquired about Jemison Rassel. When, up till 4-01-2000 Jemison was not found, then, he lodged the First Infor mation Report (Ex. Ka. 1) at Laxman Jhula.;