- (1.) Vide this judgment, the above mentioned two appeals would be disposed of as these have arisen out of common incident/judgment.
(2.) The appellants, who are in custody since the date of their arrest i.e. 20.5.2004, have filed these appeals challenging their conviction and sentence as ordered by the trial court under Section 302, 363/34 of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short) vide judgment/order dated 03.11.2006/15.11.2006. Prosecution case was set in motion on the basis of the statement of the complainant Partap Singh father of deceased Sonu. The complainant submitted a complaint to the Station House Officer, Baragudha (Ex.PN) for registration of a case. The complainant stated in the application Ex. PN that for the last 3/4 months, he was residing with his family at Shiv brick-kiln village Sukhchain and was doing labour work. On 15.4.2004, at about 7.00 A.M., some unknown persons came to the brick-kiln in a white coloured Esteem car bearing No. 3642. Out of the said persons, three were men and two were wearing ladies attire. They were also carrying dholak etc. and asked for Badhai (asking for money) qua their son who was aged about one year. When the complainant party intended to give Rs. 20/-, the above said persons took away the child with them and said that they should get the child released from Darshna Mahant of village Odhan after paying Rs. 500/- towards Badhai.. When the complainant party went to the said Mahant with Rs. 500/-, they showed complete ignorance about the facts and said that no child was with them. The complainant sought that his child be traced. On the basis of the statement of the complainant, formal first information report ('FIR' for short) No. 53 dated 16.4.2004 was registered at Police Station Baragudha under Section 363-A IPC.
(3.) Sub Inspector Rattan Singh then visited the spot and verified the facts from the complainant and other witnesses. He prepared the rough site plan of the place of kidnapping. On 28.4.2004, Sub Inspector Rattan Singh got prepared a sketch of Chhinder with the help of the complainant and Ram Kumar, Clerk of the brick-kiln from computer branch of Superintendent of Police, Sirsa. On 20.5.2004, accused Chhinder Singh, Saravjit Kaur alias Pinky alias Rani, Boota Singh, Sandeep Singh alias Raju and Tara Baba were arrested. The said accused were then got identified from Nikku Ram and Sohan Lal. During interrogation, disclosure statements of accused Chhinder and Rani were recorded by Sub Inspector Rattan Singh. The accused were produced before the Magistrate on 21.5.2004. On the basis of disclosure statement suffered by accused Sandeep, Esteem car bearing No. DL-1CB-5844 was recovered and the same was taken in possession. On 22.5.2004, accused Chhinder Singh, on the basis of his disclosure statement, led the police party to the place where the dead body was buried. However, the dead body was not recovered from the disclosed place. On 24.5.2004, on the basis of disclosure statement of Chhinder Singh, dead body of the child was exhumed from the disclosed place. The dead body was taken in possession. Sub Inspector Rattan Singh conducted the inquest proceedings qua the dead body of the child. The dead body was got photographed and was sent for post mortem examination. On 27.5.2004, accused Gulab Kaur and Kashmir Singh were arrested. On 02.7.2004, blood samples of the complainant and his wife were taken from General Hospital, Sirsa but could not be sent to Hyderabad. On 09.8.2004, blood samples of the complainant and his wife were taken and were sent to Hyderabad for Deoxyribo Nucliec Acid ('DNA' for short) test.;