RAKESH KAINTHLA, J. - (1.)The present appeal is directed against the judgment and order dtd. 18/6/2021 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge-I, Kangra at Dharamshala (learned Trial Court) vide which, the appellant (accused before learned Trial Court) was convicted for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 452, 302, 382 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') and was sentenced as under: JUDGEMENT_86_LAWS(HPH)4_2024_1.jpg (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience).
(2.)Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are that the police presented a challan before the learned Trial Court against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 302, 382, 449 and 201 of IPC. It was asserted that one Deepak informed the police telephonically on 19/4/2017 that Kamal Kaur residing as a tenant near Hanuman Mandir, Niazpur was crying for help and it was found after visiting her home that she was murdered by someone. The information was reduced into writing. An entry No.4 dtd. 19/4/2017 (Ext. PW22/H) was recorded in the Police Station. Gian Chand Thakur (PW29), HC-Kuldeep Singh (PW27), HHC-Kirpal Singh (PW7), and LC-Babli Devi (PW23), went to the spot to verify the correctness of the information. Sanjay Kumar (PW1) made a statement (Ext.PW1/A) stating that he was residing adjacent to the house of Ashok Kumar. Kamal Kaur, wife of late Praveen Kumar, was residing as a tenant in the house of Ashok Kumar. The informant-Sanjay Kumar went to sleep on 18/4/2017. His aunt-Krishana Devi (PW5) called him on 19/4/2017 at about 4-4:15 am and told him that Kamal Kaur was shouting in her room for help. The informant came out of his home and found that the residents of the area were calling Kamal Kaur. The informant and Vishal Kumar (PW6) went near the gate of Kamal Kaur and found that the gate was locked from inside. The informant and Vishal Kumar climbed up the corner of the house and found that the wire gauze door was shut and the light was switched off. Informant and Vishal opened the door and went inside the room. They switched on the lights and found Kamal Kaur lying dead. The blood was scattered on the bed and floor. Some unknown person had entered the room of Kamal Kaur and murdered her with a sharp-edged weapon. Gian Chand made the endorsement on the statement made by the informant and sent it to the Police Station, where FIR (Ext PW22/J) was registered. Gian Chand conducted the investigation. He prepared the site plan (Ext PW29/A). The photographs (Ext. PW15/A-1 to Ext. PW15/A-10) were taken. A blood-stained knife (Ext. P3) was found on the spot, which was lifted and preserved. It was put on a cotton (Ext. P4) and kept inside the cardboard box (Ext P2) after preparing its sketch (Ext. PW2/A). The box was sealed in a cloth parcel (Ext. P1) with six impressions of seal 'A'. The seal impression (Ext. PW2/B) was taken on a separate piece of cloth. The parcel was seized vide memo (Ext. PW2/C). RFSL team was called. The inquest report (Ext. PW29/B) was prepared. RFSL team preserved the sample of blood lifted from different places from the spot with the help of thread (Ext. P27/A1 to P27/A12). These were wrapped in different wrappers (Ext. P26/A1 to P26/A12). One twig (Ext. P29) was put in a wrapper (Ext. P28). Wrapped papers were put in a carton (Ext. PW25). These were put in a cloth parcel (Ext. P24) and the parcel was sealed with six impressions of seal 'T'. The seal impression (Ext. PW29/C) was taken on a separate piece of cloth. Inspector Gian Chand wrote an application (Ext. PW27/A) and handed it over to HC-Kuldeep (PW27) and LC-Babli (PW23) with a direction to get the postmortem examination of the deceased conducted. Dr Sushil Sharma (PW31) conducted the post-mortem examination of the deceased and found multiple antemortem injuries. As per his opinion, the cause of death was stab wound injury. He preserved the viscera to rule out any intoxication. He handed over the viscera and other articles to the police. He issued the report (Ext. PW31/B). Inspector-Gian Chand found blood stains on the bed sheet and pillow. He removed the pillow cover. He found a gold nose pin (Ext. P10) on the bed. He put the blood-stained bed sheet (Ext. P12) and pillow cover (Ext. P13) in a parcel. He also put the gold nose pin (Ext. P10) in a matchbox (Ext. P9). The matchbox was put in a cloth parcel (Ext. P8). The parcel was sealed with six impressions of seal 'P'. The seal impression (Ext. PW4/A) was taken on a separate piece of cloth. The parcels were seized vide memo (Ext. PW4/B). Two mobile phones - one of Mark Sony containing two sims (Ext. P6) and one of Mark Nokia (Ext. P7) were recovered. These were put in a cloth parcel (Ext. P5). The parcel was sealed with six seal impressions of seal 'P'. Seal Impression (Ext. PW2/D) was taken on a separate piece of cloth and the parcel was seized vide memo (Ext. PW2/A). It was found during the investigation that the accused and his wife used to visit the house of the deceased. The accused had visited the house of the deceased on 18/4/2017 and he was found missing from his home on 20/4/2017. The police tried to contact the accused but his mobile phone was found switched off. Anil Kumar (PW12) brother of the accused revealed on 24/4/2017 that he had received a telephone call from the accused stating that he (the accused) had committed a mistake. Anil Kumar advised the accused to return. The Police apprehended the accused on 25/4/2017 at 2:30 am at Niazpur. The accused was arrested at 10:30 am after an inquiry. The accused made a disclosure statement that he could show the room, where he had committed the murder of Kamal Kaur and the place where he had kept the knife after the murder. The disclosure statement (Ext. PW3/A) was reduced into writing. The accused identified the room where he had murdered the deceased and the boundary wall where he had kept the knife. Site plan (Ext. PW29/C) and memo of identification (Ext. PW3/B) were prepared. The photographs (Ext. PW15/B-1 to PW15/B-14) were taken. Inspector Gian Chand filed an application (Ext. PW26/A) for conducting the medical examination of the accused. Dr. Richa Mehrotra (PW26) conducted the medical examination of the accused and found that he had suffered multiple injuries, most of which were caused within five to seven days. One injury was caused within 48 hours of examination. She preserved the blood sample on the FTA Card (Ext. PX1). The card was sealed in a parcel (Ext. PX). She issued the MLC (Ext. PW26/B). The accused made a disclosure statement that he had cut the sleeves of his shirt with the help of a stone and threw the sleeves in the khad which could be recovered by him. The accused further disclosed that he had stolen the gold chain of the deceased and sold it in Pathankot. He could identify the various places. The disclosure statement (Ext. PW15/C) was reduced to writing. The accused led the police party to Jabaar Khad and recovered the sleeves (Ext. PW19 and P20). These were put in a cardboard box (Ext. P18) and the box was sealed in a parcel (Ext. P17). The spot identification memo (Ext. PW15/D) and a site plan (Ext. PW29/E) were prepared. The accused led the police party to the shop of Anil Verma and identified it as the shop where he had sold the gold chain. Anil Verma produced the gold chain (Ext. P16), which was put in a wrapper (Ext. P15). The wrapper was put in a transparent envelope (Ext. P14). These were sealed in a parcel (Ext. P8) and the parcel was sealed with three seal impressions of Seal 'A'. Seal Impression (Ext. PW8/B) was taken on a separate piece of cloth. The parcel was seized vide memo (Ext. PW8/A). The accused also identified the shop where he had purchased the clothes. The photographs of the proceedings (Ext. PW15/F1 to 15/F17) were taken. The parcel was seized vide memo (Ext PW15/E). The accused produced blue pants (Ext. P22) and white shirts (Ext. P23), which were put in a parcel (Ext. P21) and the parcel was sealed with six impressions of seal 'A'. The seal impression (Ext. PW29/G) was taken on a separate piece of cloth. All the articles were handed over to HC-Ravinder (PW22) who sent them to FSL, Junga for analysis. The results of analysis (Ext. 'PA' to 'PD') were received showing that no poison/alcohol was detected in the viscera and the DNA profile obtained from the shirt arm of Sunil Kumar was found consistent with the DNA profile obtained from the blood of the deceased Kamal Kaur. Gian Chand applied to the Nodal Officer to obtain the call details record. Devender Verma (PW30) issued a call details record (Ext. PW28/A) and the certificate under Sec. 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act (Ext. PW28/B). An application (Ext. PW32/A) was filed to obtain the revenue record of the spot. Anil Kumar (PW28) conducted further investigation. He recorded the statements of the remaining witnesses. After the completion of the investigation, the challan was prepared and it was presented in the Court of learned ACJM Nurpur, who committed it to the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Dharamshala from where it was assigned to the learned Additional Sessions Judge-I, Kangra at Dharamshala.
(3.)Learned Additional Sessions Judge-I, Kangra at Dharamshala charged the accused-Sunil Kumar with the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 449, 302, 382 and 201 of IPC and accused Anil Verma with the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 411 of IPC. They pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.