- (1.) THIS appeal, preferred under section 374 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, (hereinafter referred as Cr. P. C.) is directed against the judgment and order dated 13. 09. 1993 passed by III Additional Ses sions Judge, Dehradun, in Sessions Trial No. 65 of 1988, whereby the appellant-Rishipal has been convicted under Section 302,364,201,171 and 420 of Indian Pe nal Code, 1860, (hereinafter referred as I. P. C. ). The accused appellant is sentenced to imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 3,000/- under Section 302 I. P. C. , imprisonment for life under Section 364. I. RC. rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years under Section 201 1. PC. , rigorous imprisonment for a period of two months under Section 171 I. P. C. and rigorous imprisonment for a period of 5 years under Section 420 I. P. C. by the trial court.
(2.) HEARD learned counsel for the par ties and perused the entire lower court record. Prosecution case is that on 01. 07. 1987 accused /appellant Rishipal cheated the complainant Dr. Mohd. Alam (PW 2), dishonestly inducing him to de liver a car, registration no. URM 2348 (make Fiat), and cash of Rs. 15. 000/- to him, at No. 1, Circular Road, Police Sta tion -Dalanwala, Dehradun and on the very day at about 1. 30 p. m. while taking the car and the cash, the accused/appel lant abducted Abdul Mabood, brother of the complainant with intention to commit his murder. It is alleged by the prosecu tion that sometime thereafter, between 01. 07. 1987 and 02. 07. 1987 Abdul Mabood was murdered near a canal on Kairana Panipat Road, in District -Panipat. It is further alleged that the ac cused / appellant with intention to cause of disappearance of offence threw the dead body of Abdul Mabood in the Ca nal. A report (Exhibit A 3) was lodged by Dr. Mohd. Alam on 06. 07. 1987 at 19. 13 hours with Police Station - Dalanwala, against the accused / appellant which is registered as Crime No. 185, relating to offence punishable under section 406,419,420,365 I. P. C. . Since the accused while cheating, said to have disclosed his name - "captain Ravindra Pal Singh Rana", the check report (Exhibit A 67) on the basis of First Information Report was prepared shows the name of the accused as above. P. W 17 Sub inspector -Muzaffar Ali started the investigation. He interrogated the witnesses, got arrested the accused, recovered Rat Car registration no. URM 2348 from Panipat, some letters writ ten by accused / appellant, and also re covered stone (Exhibit 1) on 15. 08. 1987. However, further investigation was taken up by Incharge Inspector - Mr. J. P. Sharma (PW 18) who inspected the site recovered pieces of pants of accused / ap pellant from Panipat, took scrapping of black paint of car from the side of the bridge where the car got dashing. He has further recovered some more letters writ ten by accused, and on completion of in vestigation submitted chargesheet (Exhibit A 74) against the accused / appellant - Rishipal Singh for his trial in respect of offence punishable under Sections 364,302,201,420,170 and 171 I. P. C. . The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun, on receipt of chargesheet on 07. 11. 1987, after supplying necessary copies to the accused / appellant as re quired under Section 207 Cr. P. C. commit ted the case to the Court of Sessions for trial. The Sessions Trial appears to have been transferred to the Court of III Addi tional Sessions Judge, Dehradun. The said court on 29. 04. 1988, after hearing the prosecution and defence framed charge of offences punishable under Sec tion 420,364, 302. 171 and 201 I. P. C. to which accused Rishipal pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. On this prosecu tion got examined P. W 1 - Raees Ahmad, who saw accused in the shop of the com plainant; P. W 2 - Dr. Mohd. Alam, com plainant; P. W 3 - Hari Om, who has last seen Abdul Mabood in the car with ac cused, P. W 4 - Jitedar Singh (declared hos tile), P. W 5 - Hizfur Rahman brother of Abdul Mabood; P. W 6 - Anees Ahmad, who has corroborated that accused used to introduce himself as Captain Rana; P. W 7 - Akash Garg, resident of Panipat; P. W 8 - Badloo Ram, resident of Panipat; P. W 9 Jai Bhagwan, resident of Panipat; P. W 10-Ajit Chopra, resident of Panipat; P. W 11 -Tejveer Singh, resident of Panipat; P. W 12 -Subhash Sharma, witness of re covery; P. W 13- Rajveer Singh, resident of Gurgaon; P. W 14-Dharam Singh, resident of Gurgaon; P. W 15-Chandra Raghav alias Munna, minor who accompanied the accused and Abdul Mabood in the Car from Dehradun; P. W 16 - Kanti Kumar Scientific Officer, Forensic Laboratory; P. W 17 - Muzaffar Ali, who started the investigation; P. W 18 - J. R Sharma, who con cluded the investigation and P. W 19 -Ramanand Pandey, another Scientific Of ficer of Forensic Laboratory, Agra. The oral and documentary evidence adduced by prosecution was put to the accused by the Trial Court, in reply to which, he al leged that evidence adduced against him to be false. However, he did not deny hand writing in some of letters. In defence, on behalf of accused / appellant DW1-Yash veer Singh, brother of the accused and; DW 2 - Constable Om Prakash, who proved the copy of extract of General Di ary (Exhibit B 2), were got examined. The prosecution after hearing the parties, found the accused / appellant guilty of charges of offence punishable under Sec tions 302, 364, 201, 171 and 420 of I. P. C. on 08. 09. 1993 and thereafter, heard on sentence on 13. 09. 1993 and sentenced the convict to imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 3,000/- under Section 302 I. PC. , imprisonment for life under Section 364 IRC. , rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years under Section 201 I. P. C. , rigorous imprisonment for a pe riod of two months under Section 171 I. P. C. and rigorous imprisonment for a period of 5 years under Section 420 I. P. C. . Aggrieved by the said judgment and order passed by III Additional Sessions Judge, Dehradun this appeal was preferred by the convict in the Allahabad High Court on 16. 09. 1993 where it was admitted on 21. 09. 1993. The appeal is received by transfer to this Court under section 35 of U. P Re-Organization Act, 2000 (Central Act 29 of 2000 ).
(3.) AS far as charge of murder is con cerned, this is a case of circumstantial evi dence but with regard to the other charges there is ocular testimony of the witnesses examined on behalf of prosecution. First we take up charge of offences relating to cheating, abduction, impersonation and causing disappearance of evidence. Pw1 - Raees Ahmad, who is resi dent of Kota Rajasthan states that on 30. 06. 1987 he had come to Dehradun to take some payment from P. W 2 - Dr. Mohd. Alam at the house no. 1, Circular Road, Dehradun. He met accused / ap pellant there. The witness further states that accused appellant told P. W 2 - Dr. Mohd. Alam that he needs his car, as he has to go to Indian Military Academy (hereinafter referred to as I. M. A.) to meet one Major Deepa. With the accused/ap pellant there was a boy named Munna (Pw 15 ). They took the car of Dr. Mohd. Alam and came back. In the night, they stayed with Dr. Mohd. Alam. Accused / appellant told Dr. Alam that he is con structing 50 rooms house at Meerut and he wanted to have Rs. 15,000/ - from Major Deepa for purchasing marble but could not meet her. He (accused / appel lant) requested Dr. Alam (Pw 2) to give a loan of Rs. 15,000/- so that he can purchase some coolers and fans, and promised that he would return the money soon. P. W 1 - Raees Ahmad further states that on 01. 07. 1987 Dr. Alam withdrew money from Bank and paid it to the ac cused / appellant. Where after, he (accused / appellant) took car, make Fiat, registra tion no. URM 2348 from Dr. Alam at about 2. 00 p. m.- 2. 30 p. m. and went along with Abdul Mabood promising that he along with Abdul Mabood would return on next day. The witness further states that at that time accused / appellant was wearing black pants and grey colour T-Shirt. P. W 1 - Raees Ahmad further told that when on 2nd - 3rd of July, 1987 accused / appellant and Abdul Mabood did not return, he along with P. W 2 - Dr. Mohd. Alam went to I. M. A. and on en quiry found that there is no one named Major Deepa in the Academy nor was there any Captain R. R Rana. In the cross examination, this witness has stated that he had trade / commercial relations with Dr. Mohd. Alam for the last 4-5 years be fore incident.;