- (1.) This appeal is directed against the judgement and order dated 18.07.2005 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar in Sessions Case No. 86 dated 24.11.2004. By the aforesaid judgement and order, the accused/appellant has been convicted under Sections 364-A, 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code. While the accused/appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a further period of five months for the offence under Section 364-A of the Indian Penal Code, he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. In so far as the offence under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code is concerned, the accused/appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years alongwith fine of Rs. 500/-, in default, rigorous imprisonment for a further period of three months. All the sentences have been ordered to run concurrently against the accused/appellant.
(2.) The short case of the prosecution is that PW1, Harpreet Kaur, wife of Jaswinder Singh, resident of village Malmohri, Tehsil Tarn Taran, District Amritsar made a statement before PW9 Naurang Singh, Station House Officer, Police Station Sadar, Tarn Taran in the morning of 23.08.2004. The said statement (Ex. PA) which was signed by PW1 and attested by PW9 was the basis of FIR dated 23.08.2004 registered in respect of the incident in question. According to the prosecution, PW1, in her statement (Ex. PA), stated that on 23.08.2004, she woke up at about 5.00 AM in the morning. At that time, her child was sleeping on the bed. PW1 came back to the room for fetching milk from the refrigerator for preparing tea. At that time, she again found her son on the bed. According to PW1, at that time, her father-in-law had left for the gurdwara and had closed the outer gate. PW1, in her statement, had further stated that when she came back to the room at about 5.15 AM to fetch the feeding bottle of her son, she could not find her son on the bed. She also saw the outer gate partially open. According to PW1, she made a frantic search of the house and the neighbourhood and thereafter called the younger brother of her husband and his wife who used to reside in the same house. A little later, her father-in-law came back from the gurdwara. When all attempts to locate the child failed they proceeded towards the Police Station to report the matter. On the way, in the bus stop at Naurangabad, Police party headed by PW9 Naurang Singh, Station House Officer, met them and at that place PW1 made her statement which was counter-signed and sent to the Police Station for registration of the FIR (Ex. PJ).
(3.) After registration of the FIR, investigation of the case started and rough site plan (Ex. PK) and sketch (Ex. PG) were prepared by PW8 Rishi Ram, Draftsman. According to the prosecution, on 24.08.2004, Pargat Singh, PW2 (grand-father of the missing child) received a telephone call from Ghanaur, Haryana demanding ransom money. The call was made from telephone No. 0130-2460831 which is the allotted number of a PCO booth. In the course of the investigation, two bills Ex. PL and Ex. PM in respect of the calls made from the PCO to telephone No. 0185-2282195 installed in the house of another accused, namely, Malook Singh were seized. The prosecution had alleged that the aforesaid phone calls were made at the instance of the present accused/appellant, Ravinder Kumar, who was employed as a servant in the house of co-accused Malook Singh. Though frantic efforts were made by the prosecution to arrest Ravinder Kumar, he was not available until 31.08.2004 on which date the accused/appellant Ravinder Kumar alongwith his brother Raunik Singh allegedly met PW3, Dara Singh, Member of the Gram Panchayat of the village and made an extra-judicial confession admitting that they had kidnapped the boy and while holding his mouth to prevent him from shouting, the boy had died. On the aforesaid basis, both the accused/appellant and his brother were arrested and offences under Sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code were added to the offences already alleged in the FIR. Furthermore, according to the prosecution, on interrogation, Ravinder Kumar made a statement that he had kept the dead body concealed in a pit near the wall in the Haveli of the accused Malook Singh and that he could help the Police recover the same. The aforesaid statement of the accused/appellant which was recorded was attested by PW2 and others. A Police party alongwith PW7 Parmanand, Naib Tehsildar, who was so deputed by the Sub Divisional Magistrate went with the accused/appellant to the Haveli of Malook Singh. At the spot, the accused/appellant, in the presence of witnesses, recovered the bones and skull of a dead body by digging the pit. Alongwith the bones and skull, a T-shirt (orange colour) and a thread (tarhagi) was also recovered. The aforesaid items i.e. T-shirt and tarhagi were identified by PW1, the mother of the child to have been worn by the deceased boy.;