H.S. Bedi, J. - (1.) The prosecution story is as under:- Bala Devi (deceased) daughter of Ram Singh had been married to Rajesh Kumar, a resident of village Changroad, District Bhiwani about two years prior to the incident. Ram Singh had then given dowry etc. beyond his financial position. The two accused Rajesh Kumar and Naraini Devi (mother-in-law of Bala Devi) were dissatisfied with what had been given and they also suspected Bala Devi of being of low character. On the night of April 27, 1994, PW-6 Lalit Kumar went to village Changroad to meet his sister Bala Devi. At about 1.30 A.M., he woke up on hearing the screams of Mar Riya Mar Diya and saw that both the wrists of Bala Devi had been tied with electric wires and she was being administrated electric shocks by Rajesh and his mother, who was standing beside her. When Lalit Kumar inquired as to why they had done this, he was told that Bala Devi was of bad character and had also brought insufficient dowry and that they had killed her on that account. Lalit Kumar immediately returned to Dadri to inform his parents but as his father was not then available, he gave this information to his uncle PW-5 Hari Kishan and on his statement, the formal F.I.R. was registered at Police Station, Sadar Dadri at 12.20 P.M. on April 28, 1994; with the special report being delivered to the Illaqa Magistrate at Charkhi Dadri at 2.05 P.M. PW-8 ASI Dharam Pal of Police Station Sadar Dadri thereafter went to the place of incident and made the necessary inquiries. Rajesh Kumar and Naraini Devi were arrested on May 1, 1994 and on a disclosure statement made by Rajesh Kumar, the electric wires used in the murder were recovered. Udai Singh, Sarpanch of village Changroad, in the meanwhile, had got recorded a daily diary report in the police station that at about 5.00 A.M. on the morning of April 28, 1994, Bhopal son of Devi Sahai had come to him and told him that Bala Devi wife of Rajesh Kumar had died due to electrocution while she was using an electric rod for heating water. As this story was found to be false, Udai Singh was also arraigned as an accused and on the completion of the investigation, accused Rajesh Kumar and Naraini Devewere charged for the offences punishable under Sections 302/34,304-B, 498-A and 201 of the Indian Penal Code whereas Udai Singh was charged for an offence punishable under Section 201 of the Code and as they pleaded not guilty, were brought to trial.
(2.) In support of its case, the prosecution relied upon the evidence of PW-1 Dr. Kundan Kumar, who had conducted the postmortem examination on the dead body and had opined that death had been caused by electrocution and that ligature marks were present on her wrists; PW-5 Hari Kishan, the complainant and the uncle of the deceased; PW-6 Lalit Kumar, the brother of the deceased and an eye-witness; PW-8 ASI Dharam Pal; PW-9 Inspector Siri Bhagwan, who had investigated the case; and PW-10 Tara Chand, a witness to the extra-judicial confession who, however, did not support the prosecution. Bhopal Singh, who was also cited as a witness, was, however,-given up as having been won over.
(3.) The prosecution case was then put to the accused and their statements recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Accused Rajesh Kumar while admitting the fact of his marriage, denied the other allegations and stated as under:- "As usual, I had gone to ease myself in the fields at about 5.00 or quarter to five in the morning. I came back at 5.30 in the morning. Bala had put the electric rod in a bucket of water. It was in preparation for taking bath used to take bath with the hot water. When I came back, I found Balas hand in the bucket. The bucket was empty and lying on its side, the water having split. Finding that something had gone wrong, touched and jerked Bala and received the electric current myself also. I separated the rod from its plug. Tara Chand, my Tau, was also returning from the fields after easing himself. I informed Tara Chand and came inside the house. In the meanwhile, Bhopal, my chacha, also came there. We lifted her from the ground, put her on the cot, covered her with a razai, tried to give her some water through her mouth but we found her dead. Bhopal then was sent to inform the Sarpanch about the death. My Tau Tara Chand was sent to inform the brother etc. of Rajbala. Ram Singh, my father-in-law and Hari Singh and Ram Parshad Advocate came from their side. The persons from my in-laws side reached our house at about 9.00 A.M. The police also came almost at the same time. I was taken in the four-wheeler alongwith the dead body of Rajbala first to police post from where the dead body was despatched to the hospital and I was made to sit in the Police Post. I was detained by the police.";