Atul Kumar Jain, J. - (1.) THIS appeal was filed by accused -appellant Ram Lal @ Ramu against the judgment dt. 11.4.2007 passed by Addl. Sessions Judge (Fast Track) No. 2, Hanumangarh H.Q., Nohar in Sessions Case No. 18/2007, titled as State vs. Ram Lal @ Ramu whereby said accused -appellant was convicted under Secs. 302, 397, 201 and 414 of Indian Penal Code and was sentenced as follows: - U/s. 302 IPC: Life imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 25,000/ - and, in default of payment of fine, two years' additional simple imprisonment U/s. 397 IPC; ten year's rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 15,000/ - and, in default of payment of fine, eleven months' additional simple imprisonment U/s. 414 IPC: three years' rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20,000/ - and, in default of payment of fine, six months' simple imprisonment. U/s. 201 IPC: seven years' rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20,000/ - and, in default of payment of fine, ten months' simple imprisonment. All the substantive sentences were ordered to run concurrently by the said Court. Accused -appellant is continuously in jail since 7.9.2003, viz., the date of his arrest in this case. As per FIR No. 330/2003 of Police Station, Nohar, the prosecution story was to the effect that in the night of 22.3.2003, Duni Ram was murdered by accused Ram Lal and his dead body was thrown away in the Rajasthan Canal so as to remove the evidence of murder and this murder was committed for the purpose of robbing Duni Ram from the possession of a jeep and jeep was also dishonestly sold by accused Ram Lal to Jagdish.
(2.) THE trial Court relying upon extra -judicial confession allegedly made in presence of Krishna Kumar (PW -1), Madan Singh (PW -2) and Ramjas (PW -3) and also upon recovery of jeep as well as recovery of a silver ring and carrier and deck of jeep from possession of accused, had convicted accused Ram Lal on account of all the charges levelled against him. In the memo of appeal, it has been argued that so called extra -judicial confession was not reliable because the witnesses of the extra -judicial confession themselves admit that confession was procured by them by exerting pressure on the accused and similarly, recovery of jeep from possession of Jagdish is also doubtful because seizure memo of jeep does not carry even the signature of Jagdish from whom the jeep was allegedly recovered and similarly, the alleged silver ring of deceased was not identified by his wife in any identification parade before a Magistrate during the investigation. We have heard arguments of both the sides. PW -1 Krishna Kumar, PW -2 Madan Singh and PW -3 Ram Jas have given the similar statements and they have introduced the story of extra -judicial confession allegedly made by accused Ram Lal in their presence. All of them say that since jeep of Duni Ram, the deceased, was hired by Ram Lal and then after Duni Ram was missing since so many days, so they apprehended Ram Lal and told him that they will beat him, if he does not disclose the true story about missing Duni Ram. They say that when pressure was exerted on Ram Lal, then he admitted that on 22.3.2003 he has killed Duni Ram while he was sleeping by strangulating him with the help of a 'safa' (turban) and then he has thrown the dead body in Rajasthan Canal at 'Masitawali -Head'. These witnesses have further narrated that Ram Lal told them that he was in need of money, so he had sold the jeep of Duni Ram to Jagdish Kabadi for a sum of Rs. 25,000/ -. All the three witnesses of extrajudicial confession stated that after making so much statement, Ram Lal was able to escape from their grip by making a false excuse that he is going for a loo (call of nature).
(3.) IT is pertinent to mention here that PW -1 Krishna Kumar was real brother of Duni Ram, the deceased and PW -3 Ramjas was his cousin brother. In the natural course of things, if a person admits that he has committed murder before the persons present therein, then certainly the brother and cousin brother of deceased would not have allowed him to escape without handing over him to police custody.;