- (1.) The appellant, R. P. Raj was sentenced to death for kidnapping, rape and murder of a minor girl by Learned Sessions Judge, Andaman & Nicobar Islands in Sessions Case No.26 of 2008. The appellant was also sentenced to imprisonment for life for kidnapping and murder of another minor girl by Learned Sessions Judge, Andaman & Nicobar Islands in Sessions Case No.27 of 2008. Learned Sessions Judge submitted the proceedings of Sessions Case No.26 of 2008 to the High Court for confirmation of death sentence of the appellant and the same was registered as D.R. No.01 of 2013. The appellant has challenged the judgment and order of sentence of Sessions Case No.26 of 2008 and Sessions Case No.27 of 2008 by preferring Criminal Appeal No.13 of 2013 and Criminal Appeal No.15 of 2013 respectively. We have heard both the appeals and death reference and decided to dispose of the same by one common judgment, as major portion of the evidence is common in both the Sessions Cases.
(2.) Recapitulation of brief facts: The appellant was running a coaching centre along with his wife, Smt. Tulsi Devi in the house of his father-in-law at Diglipur in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. One Sunita Lal Das, aged about 14 years and one Papri Biswas aged about 14 years were the students of the said coaching centre. Mohammed Ashraf, Mohammed Naushad, C. Shiva Kumar and many others were the students of the said coaching centre. On 26.03.2008 at about 6 A.M. Sunita Lal Das (hereinafter referred to as Sunita) went to the coaching centre along with her step father, but did not return. A missing diary was lodged, but the girl could not be traced out. On 24.04.2008 at about 3 P.M. Papri Biswas (hereinafter referred to as Papri) also left home for the coaching centre, but did not return to home. The elder sister of Papri saw some messages in the cell phone kept in the house on 24.04.2008. Those messages were sent from the cell phone used by Papri. On 24.04.2008, a missing diary was lodged in the police station. On 26.04.2008 another message was received from the cell phone used by Papri, which indicated that she was in danger and one Manas was responsible for the same. The uncle of Papri lodged specific complaint in the police station alleging kidnapping of Papri and thereby a specific criminal case was started on 26.04.2008. The step father of Sunita also made complaint in the police station alleging kidnapping of Sunita on 26.04.2008. 2.1. The police collected the call details of cell phone taken away by Papri from her house at the time of leaving the house for coaching centre. It transpired from the call details of the said cell phone that there were exchange of calls from two other cell numbers with the cell phone taken away by Papri. One of those two cell phones belonged to one Arjun Tigga, the driver of Maruti Omni Car bearing no.AN01D8956 (hereinafter referred to as Omni Car). On interrogation of Arjun Tigga it was found that on 24.04.2008 one person by disclosing his identity as RX NGO hired the said Omni car for use of some guests of NGO coming from Port Blair. The other cell phone bearing Airtel SIM No.9933247383 stood in the name of one K. Mohammed, but the same was used by the appellant. The appellant was taken into custody by the police. On thorough interrogation the appellant disclosed that the dead body of both Sunita and Papri were buried near the creek at Keralapuram. The appellant also disclosed the names of three of his students of the coaching centre, viz, Md. Naushad, Md. Ashraf and C. Shiva Kumar who also participated with the appellant in concealing the dead bodies of two minor girls. Ultimately, the appellant and those three juveniles led the police party and the witnesses to the place where the dead bodies were buried in a place near the house of one Sushila Nair at Keralapuram. The dead bodies of Papri and Sunita were recovered by digging the earth. The dead body of Sunita was found in several parts in a decomposed state inside the plastic gunny bag. The school bag of Sunita was also discovered from the bush near the place where the dead body was buried on the basis of the statement of the appellant. The bag contained the book and geometry box belonging to Sunita. The step-father of Sunita identified the school bag and the dead body of Sunita from her wearing apparels. The dead body of Papri was identified by her uncle. Both the dead bodies were sent for Post Mortem Examination to the Community Health Centre at Diglipur. 2.2. The cause of death of the deceased Sunita could not be ascertained by way of Post Mortem Examination. However, the cause of death of Papri was found to be asphyxia by strangulation after forceful sexual intercourse. The ornaments worn by Sunita and the gold ornaments worn by Papri and the cell phone kept in custody of Papri were recovered from the coaching centre of the appellant on the basis of his statement. The knife and rope used in the commission of crime were recovered from the rented house of the appellant at Keralapuram on the basis of his statement. Ultimately, the police submitted two charge sheets against the appellant in connection with kidnapping, rape and murder of Sunita and Papri. Three juveniles Naushad, Ashraf and Shiva Kumar faced enquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board for kidnapping, rape and murder of both Sunita and Papri. 2.3. The appellant faced the trial in Sessions Case No.27 of 2008 (case of Sunita) on the allegation of committing offence under Section 364/302/376/201/404/34 of the Indian Penal Code. Similarly, the appellant faced the trial in Sessions Case No.26 of 2008 (case of Papri) on the allegation of committing offence under Section 364/302/376/201/404/34 of the Indian Penal Code. While the appellant was found to be guilty of all the charges in Sessions Case No.26 of 2008, he was found to be guilty of all the charges in Sessions Case No.27 of 2008, except the offence under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code due to lack of evidence. In Sessions Case No.26 of 2008, Learned Sessions Judge convicted the appellant under Section 364/302/201/404/34 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for ten years and fine of Rs.3,000/- for the offence under Section 364 of Indian Penal Code, life imprisonment and fine of Rs.5,000/- for the offence under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code, rigorous imprisonment for seven years and fine of Rs.2,000/- for offence under Section 201 of Indian Penal Code, rigorous imprisonment for three years and fine of Rs.1,000/- for the offence under Section 404 of Indian Penal Code and death sentence and fine of Rs.10,000/- for the offence under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code. The proceedings have been submitted to the High Court for confirmation of sentence of death of the appellant under Section 366 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In Sessions Case No.27 of 2008, Learned Sessions Judge convicted the appellant under Section 364/302/201/404/34 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for ten years and fine of Rs.3,000/- for the offence under Section 364 of Indian Penal Code, rigorous imprisonment for seven years and fine of Rs.2,000/- for offence under Section 201 of Indian Penal Code, rigorous imprisonment for three years and fine of Rs.1,000/- for offence under Section 404 of Indian Penal Code, imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.10,000/- for the offence under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code. The conviction and sentence of the appellant in both the Sessions Cases is under challenge in both the appeals, which are being decided along with the death reference of the appellant.
(3.) Evaluation of evidence: The majority of the evidence is common in both Sessions Case No.26 of 2008 and Sessions Case No.27 of 2008 and as such the same is evaluated simultaneously for convenience of discussion.;