- (1.)In these appeals, common judgment and order on sentence dated 17.09.2009 of learned Additional Sessions Judge SC No.15/2009 has been challenged. The Appellants were convicted for committing offences punishable under Sections 364-A/34 IPC, and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment, with fine.
(2.)The prosecution case was that on 07.6.2002 Nitin Aggarwal (PW-2) lodged a complaint to ASI Phool Chand in P.S. Dilshad Garden regarding kidnapping of his father Jai Narayan Aggarwal. In this complaint, he mentioned that he resided with his parents at Model Town. His shop was in Sikriwalan, Delhi and their factory was at B 16/6, Jhilmil Industrial Area. He claimed, that, he had earlier informed the police of a call he had received on the factory telephone, on 31.12.2001, wherein the caller had threatened to kidnap him and had demanded Rs. 5,00,000/-. In the present instance, he stated that his father, Jai Narayan Aggarwal had left for the house from the factory in his Maruti Car (No. DL 6CD 2817) at around 09.30 PM. Since his father had not reached home even at 10.30 P.M., he had called him on his mobile phone, but the call was not answered. He called his father again, at about 12.30 A.M. but his call was answered by an unknown man who told him that his father was in their custody and their "Bhai would talk to him in the morning. PW-2 further stated that the informer had warned him that in case the police was informed, the body of Lalaji (his father) would be found in the drain. He suspected that his father had been kidnapped by some gang. On the basis of this statement, a case under Section 365 IPC was registered and the investigation was marked to SI Brij Mohan.
(3.)It was alleged that the kidnappers had demanded Rs. 15 lakhs for the release of Lalaji. On 13.6.2002, for securing safe release of his father, PW-2 arranged the ransom amount (30 bundles, with hundred notes of the denomination of Rs. 500 in each) and the I.O. and Nitin Aggarwal (PW-2) signed on some of the notes in ten of these bundles, and the currency notes in these bundles were then mixed up in the other twenty bundles. The kidnapper did not disclose the exact location where the ransom was to be handed over. The bag containing the ransom amount was given to Pramod Kumar Aggarwal (the uncle of PW-2 who deposed as PW-4), Surender Kumar (the brother-in-law of PW-2 who deposed as PW-9) and Kamal Kant (PW-2 s friend who deposed as PW-8) who assumed false identities, and as directed by the kidnappers boarded the Delhi-Saharanpur train and sat in the last bogie of the train. When the train crossed the New Ghaziabad Railway Station they were asked to throw the bag containing the ransom money, which they did. On 14.06.2002, PW-2 s father was released. Thereafter the investigation of the case was handed over to Inspector C.S. Rathi. In the course of the investigation, he got the telephone numbers used by the kidnappers for demanding ransom and the addresses, where these telephones were installed were traced. The I.O. also met the victim PW-1 Jai Narayan and obtained descriptions of the kidnappers. The IO, along with his staff, then visited the address from where these calls had been made, which turned out to be a house in Khatoli, Muzaffar Nagar (where Telephone No. 73119 was installed). There, they met one Rakesh who told them that Titu@ Mukesh Verma used to receive and make calls from that number to Deepak. They were also told that Deepak was related to Pradhan Ram Naresh. The IO met Pradhan Ram Naresh and enquired about Deepak after disclosing all the facts to him. He admitted that Deepak was his brother-in-law and resided in Lajpat Nagar, Ghaziabad. Thereafter, the IO along with the staff and the Pradhan reached Deepak s house, where they found him. On seeing the police party, Deepak tried to flee; however, he was nabbed and interrogated. During interrogation, Deepak confessed his involvement in the offence and his disclosure led to recovery of a sum of Rs. 9,49,500/- which was kept in a black colored suitcase lying in the almirah. The notes were sealed and seized; Deepak was arrested. At his instance, Sukram Pal was caught who led to recovery of a desi katta and two cartridges which were used in the commission of the offence. A sum of Rs. 9,000/- was also recovered from his possession; it was seized. Sukram Pal and Deepak led the police to Mukesh s house where a scooter was parked. Deepak allegedly revealed that the said scooter was used to receive the ransom amount. The scooter was taken into possession; Mukesh, however was untraceable. Sukram Pal and Deepak also pointed out Rihan s house (No. 112, Devi Dass Mohalla, Khatoli) where Jai Narayan was kept captive, after his abduction. Rihan was not present in the house. However, his wife Samina was there. The police party searched the premises and recovered cash of Rs. 60,000/- in the denomination of Rs. 500/-. On 25.06.2002, accused Deepak was interrogated and he revealed that he had deposited Rs. 9000 in Citi Bank. He withdrew this amount using his ATM card in denominations of Rs. 100. This money was seized. On the same day Rihan and Mukesh Verma @ Titoo were arrested by the police; they made disclosure statements. On 26.6.2002 at the instance of Mukesh, one charger along with one mobile, a police uniform were recovered from his house. He also assisted in the recovery of Rs. 2,67,500/- which was taken into possession by the I.O. Sukram Pal assisted in recovery of Rs. 10,000/- from his house. Rihan s disclosure led to recovery of Rs. 31,000/- from his house which was also taken into possession.