Gurdev Singh, J. - (1.) THE present Appellants -accused, Sita Ram and Harcharan Singh @ Channi along with Dilraj Singh @ Happy, were tried by the Additional Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, for the offences under Sections 302, 201 read with Section 34 IPC. Dilraj Singh @ Happy was acquitted whereas, they were convicted for those offences and were sentenced as under:
(2.) The instant appeal has been preferred by them against that conviction and sentence. The FIR, Ex. P.G/1, in this case was registered on 29.9.1995 on the statement, Ex. PG, of Sadha Singh -complainant, PW -11, made before Pawan Kumar, ASI, PW -17. He narrated therein that Gurmail Singh deceased , was the son of his sister Gurcharan Kaur, who was married to Gurnam Singh and had four other sons named; Shisha Singh, Hardeep Singh, Karam Singh and Gurpreet Singh @ Pappi. The deceased was unmarried and was residing with her whereas all other four brothers were married and were living separate from them. The deceased was doing the work of agriculturist after taking the land on lease whereas his brothers were transporters. In the year 1995, he had taken four acres of land on lease from Sohan Singh and Ramesh Bihari, deceased, had been employed by him as agricultural servant 10/12 days before 27.9.1995. On that day, after getting his land ploughed with the help of tractor of Harinder Singh @ Kalu, he himself and Ramesh Bihari consumed one bottle of liquor along with the present accused and Harinder Singh @ Kalu. Thereafter, they went to the cattle market on the tractor of Harinder Singh, who after leaving them at that place left with his tractor. Then they came to the hotel of Lekh Raj and at that place they again consumed liquor. After consuming that liquor, they abused and grappled with each other. Thereafter, they again took liquor while sitting in the truck of Malkiat Singh. Thereafter, Gurmail Singh, deceased, never came to his house. The complainant and other family members kept on searching for him and on 29.9.1995, they saw a dead body lying in the pond near the cattle market, the arm of which was tied with the help of a shirt with the support wire of the telephone pole and three stones had been placed upon the same. When they took out the dead body, they found that it was of Gurmail Singh, deceased. On further search, they also found dead body of Ramesh Bihari, deceased, lying in the pond. The complainant entertained a firm belief that both the deceased had been killed by the accused. After recording that statement, the ASI accompanied by the complainant, went to the place from where the dead bodies were recovered. He called Balak Ram, Photographer PW -4, to that place, who took the photographs, Ex. P -1 to P -12. He prepared the inquest reports, Ex. PC and PD, in respect of the dead bodies of Gurmail Singh and Ramesh Bihari, respectively, and sent the same to the hospital for post mortem examination. He prepared the rough site plan, Ex. PP, of that place with correct marginal notes. The torn shirt of Gurmail Singh, deceased, was recovered from that place, which was converted into a parcel, and was sealed by him with his seal "PK". The stones, which were said to have been found placed on the dead body of Gurmail Singh were also converted into sealed parcels. All those sealed parcels were taken into possession, vide Memo Ex. PK. One 'V' shape chappal belonging to Ramesh Bihari, deceased, was also recovered from that place, which was converted into a sealed parcel. The stones, which were alleged to have been placed on the dead body, were converted into separate sealed parcels. All those sealed parcels were taken into possession, vide Memo Ex. PL. After coming back to the police station, the ASI deposited the case property with Ram Parkash, MHC. A Board consisting of Dr. K.K. Chawla and Dr. C.R. Khatri was constituted for performing the post mortem examination on the dead bodies of the deceased. They found that those dead bodies were in advance stage of putrefaction, having no obvious mark of any external injury. The dead bodies were not dissected and on account of being in advance stage of putrefaction and were sent to the the same Forensic Department, Medical College and Hospital, Rohtak. On 1.10.1995, the post mortem examination on these dead bodies was conducted by Dr. S.K. Dhattarwal, Lecturer, Forensic Medicines, Medical College, Rohtak, PW -2. The transverse ligature mark over the neck was found on both the dead bodies and it was opined by the doctor that the cause of death was ligature strangulation. The viscera of the dead bodies was sent to the FSL for chemical examination. In the course of investigation, statements of the witnesses were recorded under Section 161 Code of Criminal Procedure and it transpired that on 27.9.1995, Gurmail Singh, deceased, was seen in the company of all the three accused while taking drinks near the shop of Lekh Ram, PW -9, and that they had also taken the drinks together in the truck of Malkiat Singh, PW -10. On 3.10.1995, statement of Jaswant Singh, PW -15, was recorded, who came out with the version that all the three accused came to him on that date and one after the other made extra judicial confession that they first strangulated Gurmail Singh to death and concealed his dead body in the pond near the cattle market and thereafter, they came back to the place where they strangulated that deceased and found Ramesh Bihari at that place while posing to sleep and under the apprehension that he might have seen them committing the murder of Gurmail Singh, murdered him by pressing his neck and thereafter, concealed his dead body in the pond near the cattle market. Jaswant Singh produced the accused before the ASI on that very day and they were arrested in this case. On interrogation, Harcharan Singh @ Channi, accused made a disclosure statement in the presence of Ram Kumar HC, PW -14, that he had kept concealed one parna belonging to him in the almirah of his house, about which only he had the knowledge and could get the same recovered. In pursuance of that disclosure statement, Ex. PN, he got recovered the parna, Ex. P.21, from the said place. The ASI converted that parna into a parcel and sealed the same with his seal' and took that sealed parcel into possession, vide Memo Ex. PO. He prepared the rough site place, Ex. PO/1, of the place of recovery with correct marginal notes and on coming back to the police station, deposited that sealed parcel with the MHC. On interrogation of the accused, they disclosed the place where they committed the crime and rough site plans, Ex. PQ, PQ/1 and PQ/2 were prepared in respect of those places. The viscera was sent to the FSL. On examination, Ethyl alcohol and organophosphorus pesticide were found therein. On the basis of that report, Ex. PR, it was opined by Dr. S.K. Dhattarwal, PW -2, that both the victims were incapacitated by administration of Ethyl alcohol and organophosphorus pesticide, which was a contributory factor in causing the death by strangulation. The map on scale of the place of occurrence, Ex. PF, was got prepared from Mukesh Kumar, Draftsman, PW -3. After completion of the investigation, the challan was put in before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kurukshetra, who committed the same to the Court of Session as the offence under Section 302 IPC was exclusively triable by the Court of Session.
(3.) THE Additional Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, from the perusal of the documents sent along with the police report and after hearing Public Prosecutor for the State and learned defence counsel for the accused, found sufficient grounds for presuming that the present Appellants/accused committed the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 IPC whereas Dilraj Singh @ Happy committed offence punishable under Section 302/34 IPC. They were charged accordingly, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.;