Baldev
Singh & Anr Vs. State of M.P [2003] Insc
1 (6 January 2003)
R.C.
Lahoti & Brijesh Kumar. R.C. Lahoti, J.
Baldev
Singh and Gurmeet Singh, the two accused appellants, are real brothers and have
been held guilty of an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC. Both have been
sentenced to imprisonment for life.
One Inder
Singh and his six sons including the two appellants, were all charged under
Section 302 read with 120-B IPC for having hatched a conspiracy to
intentionally commit murder of Peshawar Singh, the deceased, pursuant whereto
the two accused appellants intentionally caused death of the said Peshawar
Singh on 26.6.1993 at a place situated on Agra __ Bombay road falling within
the territory of P.S. Shivpuri. The trial Court disbelieved that part of the
story which related to hatching conspiracy and, therefore, directed five
accused persons, other than the two accused appellants, to be acquitted. The
two accused appellants have been held guilty by the trial Court under Section
302 IPC which conviction has been maintained by the High Court.
A few
admitted facts. The family of the accused persons and the several witnesses
including Satnam Singh, PW-3 and Raghubir Singh, PW-4, the two eye witnesses,
are all residents of village Baskhedi situated at a distance of about one and a
half kms. in the interior from Agra __ Bombay National Highway. The place where the incident took
place is situated at a distance of about six kms. from the city of Shivpuri.
It is
also admitted that Satnam Singh, PW-3, is brother of deceased Peshawar Singh. Satnam
Singh, PW-3, his father and his brothers were charged for the murder of the son
of Inder Singh in the year 1973 but were acquitted. PW-4 Raghubir Singh was
also an accused in that murder case. Thereafter, one Hardev Singh, another son
of Inder Singh was murdered in which Satnam Singh, PW-3 and his brothers were
arrested on grave suspicion but were released. The genesis of strained
relationship between the parties and the several incidents taking place in
succession is land which probably stands jointly owned by the family members of
the accused and the deceased.
Admittedly
a suit for partition is pending between Raghubir Singh, PW-4 and Balwant Singh,
PW-8 on one hand and the accused Inder Singh on the other.
Briefly
stated, the prosecution case is that on 25.6.1993, Kabul Singh, PW-2 came to
the house of Raghubir Singh, PW-4. Both took the supper together whereafter
Kabul Singh stayed put at the house of Raghubir Singh, PW-4. Raghubir Singh
woke up at about 5 a.m. in the morning of 26.6.93 and found
one of his buffaloes missing from the place where it was tied. Raghubir Singh
and Kabul Singh set out in search of the buffalo They happened to pass by the
side of the field of the accused Inder Singh. The two witnesses saw the seven
accused persons collected together below a shisham tree and conspiring to
commit the murder of Peshawar Singh, the deceased. They heard Baldev Singh
accused declaring that Peshawar Singh should be killed by hitting him with the
jeep, newly purchased by Inder Singh, to which all the accused persons replied
in affirmative. The accused Inder Singh said that if Peshawar Singh was not
killed on being hit by the jeep then he should be 'roasted with bullets' so
that the problem comes to an end. The two witnesses returned to the house of Raghubir
Singh.
It is
also the prosecution case that sometime in the evening of 25.6.93, Satnam
Singh, PW-3 had gone to the locality of tribals called sahrana to engage
agricultural labourers available there. They happened to meet there and Raghubir
Singh, PW-4 was told by Satnam Singh, PW-3 that he was likely to go to Shivpuri
the next day whereupon Raghubir Singh agreed to join him and accompany him to Shivpuri.
Next day, at about 1.30
p.m., both the
witnesses left the village for Shivpuri on bicycles. As soon as they reached Agra __ Bombay road
they saw Peshawar Singh coming on his motorcycle from the opposite direction,
i.e. from the side of Shivpuri. A jeep without number plate driven by Baldev
Singh wherein Gurmeet Singh was also sitting was following the motorcycle. The
jeep hit the motorcycle from behind. Peshawar Singh fell down with the
motorcycle. He got up and started running away when Gurmeet Singh fired a shot
from 315 bore mouser rifle which hit Peshawar Singh on his chest. Still
Peshawar Singh could run for about 10 to 15 paces whereafter he fell down. The
accused Baldev Singh armed with a 12 bore gun reached near Peshawar Singh,
placed his gun on the left side below the temporal region on Peshawar Singh and
fired the gun.
Thereafter,
the two accused appellants sat in the jeep and ran away.
The
two witnesses had hidden themselves behind the bushes standing by the roadside
wherefrom they saw the incident of firing of two bullets. Within a few minutes,
Arvind Khare, SHO, P.S. Shivpuri, reached the place of incident. Satnam Singh,
PW-3 narrated what had happened which was taken down on a piece of paper,
Ex.P-1 as dehati nalisi, later on registered as FIR at the Police Station. Arvind
Khare prepared the site plan of the place of the incident, recorded the
statement of the two witnesses, picked up the dead body and sent the same for
post mortem examination. Later on accused persons were arrested. A 315 rifle
bore was seized from Gurmeet Singh and 12 bore gun was seized from Baldev
Singh. We are not going into the details of the seizure because there is no
evidence to prove that the seized weapons were the same weapons as were used in
the commission of the crime.
The
case rests on the testimony of the two eye witnesses namely Satnam Singh, PW-3
and Raghubir Singh, PW-4. Whether they can be believed as witnesses of truth?
The trial Court and the High Court have chosen to place reliance on their
testimony. During the course of hearing of this appeal, Shri Sanyal, the
learned senior counsel for the appellants, has severely criticized the
testimony of both the eye witnesses and submitted that they were unworthy of
any reliance. Both the witnesses are interested witnesses, inimically disposed
against the accused persons and so far as the present incident is concerned
they are chance witnesses whose presence at the place of the incident and their
having been seen the incident, as narrated by them, is highly doubtful. We will
proceed to scrutinize the testimony of these two witnesses in the light of the
submissions made.
We
have already stated that the conspiracy part of the prosecution case has been
disbelieved by the trial Court, and therefore, we will avoid dealing with that
part of the prosecution case and related prosecution evidence. For the purpose
of this appeal, it would suffice to state that Raghubir Singh is a witness to
the conspiracy part of the prosecution case also but has been disbelieved by
the trial Court as regards that.
Both
the eye witnesses have deposed to having reached Agra __ Bombay road at about
1.30 or 2 p.m. on bicycles and having witnessed the motorcycle being hit by the
jeep driven by accused Baldev Singh and, thereafter, two shots being fired
resulting into instantaneous death of the deceased Peshawar Singh as the
prosecution case is.
According
to Satnam Singh, PW-3, he was to buy fertilizer from the shop of some society
situated at Shivpuri and he does not know why Raghubir Singh, PW-4, had agreed
to accompany him and for what purpose he was going to Shivpuri. Even Satnam
Singh, PW- 3, had not disclosed to Raghubir Singh the purpose for which he was
going to Shivpuri. Satnam Singh states that the jeep hit the motorcycle from
the left side of the bumper of the jeep. Having seen the accident, both the
witnesses threw down their bicycles and hid themselves behind the bushes by the
side of the road. The distance between the deceased Peshawar Singh and accused Gurmeet
Singh was about 15 paces when Gurmeet Singh fired at Peshawar Singh; the bullet
hitting Peshawar Singh on his chest. At that point of time Peshawar Singh and Gurmeet
Singh were facing each other. The butt end of the rifle was placed on the chest
of Gurmeet Singh and the rifle was kept straight aiming at Peshawar Singh.
Peshawar Singh started running away after he was hit by the bullet. He fell
down after running for a few paces. Baldev Singh was holding the 12 bore gun in
both the hands. Bending barrel downwards, the accused Baldev Singh placed the
barrel of the gun on the left temple of the deceased and fired the gun. There
were other vehicles passing on the road but none stopped. There were few labourers
working at a factory nearby who had collected on the spot but the witness did
not speak to any of them. The police had arrived within 5 to 6 minutes of the
incident.
According
to Raghubir Singh, PW-4, Peshawar Singh, having fallen down, was just about to
run when Gurmeet Singh fired a shot from his 315 bore mouser rifle. Peshawar
Singh fell down after running for about 10 to 15 paces whereafter Baldev Singh
fired a shot on the fallen Peshawar Singh by placing the gun on his neck.
Raghubir
Singh was going Shivpuri for buying some household goods. When the witness was
in the box, the defence counsel noticed that the witness was uncomfortable and
was having pain in his feet.
He
admitted that he had such pain in his feet even at the time of the incident.
Post
mortem examination on the dead body of Baldev Singh was performed by Dr. S.P.S.
Raghuvanshi, PW-7. He found the following injuries on the person of the
deceased:-
"1.
Several abrasions towards the upper side of the back.
2. An
abrasion 15 cm x 8 cm on the upper part of the left leg.
3. An
abrasion 3 cm x 4 cm on the right knee.
4. An
abrasion 3 cm x 2 cm on the right shoulder towards the front
5.
Round wound 3 cm dia with invert edges on the third rib. The rib was broken.
This was the entry wound without any exit wound.
6. On
the left, upper and outer part of the neck are wounds, size 7 cm x 3.5 cms in
which the lower part of the outer ear was included. Tissues of wound were
ruptured, blood vessels were also ruptured and the skull base was broken.
Tissue
of brain seen suspended and ruptured. Pieces of neck bone were lying broken in
the wound. One plastic cap was found in wound; margins of the wound were found
burnt. Clotted blood was found around the wound. Exit part of the wound was of
the size 3.5 x 2.5 cm which was connected with wound No.6 and was placed on the
right side of the neck.
Margins
of the wound were everted. Tissues were coming out of the wound.
Internal
examinations:-
1.
There are several fractures of the bone of the neck. There was fracture also of
the base of skull which was suspended in the ruptured wound.
2.
Neck part of the spinal cord was damaged.
3.
Third rib of right side was broken in the middle, alongwith the fourth and
fifth ribs were broken from the central line of scapula.
4.
Respiratory canal and throat were ruptured.
5.
Middle portion of right lung was cut in the front and outer side. Blood cogulated
in the right side of the chest.
6.
Parts of neck and esophagus was damaged.
Materials
found in the body:-
1. One
piece of the shot recovered from right side of back just below the angle of
scapula from beneath the skin.
2.
Four pieces of the shot recovered from right side of the neck from beneath the
skin.
3. One
plastic cap recovered from the neck wound." In the opinion of Dr. Raghuvanshi,
the death was caused due to the bullet hitting the vital organs of the body.
During the cross- examination, he admitted that if a shot is fired from a
mouser gun of 315 bore from a distance of 15 to 20 paces, the bullet must go
out of the body. If a shot is fired from a distance of 4 to 5 paces, then the
injury on the chest of the deceased would have been of larger dimension.
Similarly, the exit wound would be of larger dimension which was not to be
found on the body of the deceased. The possibility was that the wound of the
nature as was found on the body of the deceased could have been caused by a
mouser gun if the range from which the gun was fired was more, i.e. about 1000
feet. The bullet injury on the neck was caused by a gun fire in close contact.
To
begin with, Satnam Singh, PW-3, is the brother of the deceased. There is a long
standing enmity of a serious nature existing between the two eye witnesses and
the family of the accused persons.
The
incident is of the month of June in its later part. In the part of the country,
as noticed and stated by one of the learned judges of the High Court, June end
suffers from scorching heat. Ordinarily, people do not come out and travel long
distances under the midday sun. Ordinarily villagers would move out only in
cases of urgency or dire need. There was no such reason with either of the two
witnesses to go to Shivpuri on bicycles in hot summer season during the
scorching heat of midday sun on the sky. It is a strange coincidence that as
soon as they reach the road they find Peshawar Singh on motorcycle followed by
the two accused in a jeep coming from the opposite direction. Having been hit
and injured, the deceased would get up and run away from the accused persons
and if he was to be shot at he would be hit from behind and not from the front
as the injury on the chest suggests. The distance from which 315 bore mouser
rifle is stated to have been fired by the accused Gurmeet Singh, in ordinary
course the bullet would not remain embedded in the body and the wound of entry
must have been followed by a wound of exit unless the gun was fired from a long
distance but that is not the prosecution case as narrated by the eye witnesses.
According to Satnam Singh, PW-3, Baldev Singh had fired his 12 bore gun by
placing the barrel just below the temporal region of the deceased. But the
injury is found on the neck and not below the temporal region. The police
reached the place of the incident within a few minutes. Both the witnesses
deposed to having pointed out their cycles fallen on the ground and the bushes
behind which the witnesses were hiding themselves to Arvind Khare, SHO PW-8.
The site plan prepared by Arvind Khare does not show the presence of cycles or
the bushes although the site plan mentions the place wherefrom the two
witnesses claim to have seen the incident.
According
to Arvind Khare, it was a telephonic message received by him at Shivpuri Police
Station which prompted him to move to the place of the incident. There is no
record of such telephonic message. He took down the first information report
from Satnam Singh, PW-3 on a plain piece of paper at the place of incident
itself. Within half an hour, the FIR is said to have been registered at the
Police Station. The copy of the FIR registered at about 2.30 p.m.
on
26.6.93 was sent to the Magistrate on 28.6.93. The office of the Magistrate is
situated at a distance of hardly 100 paces from the Police Station. Arvind Khare,
PW-8 and the police constable, who made entry in dispatch register, whereby
copy of the report was sent to the area Magistrate in compliance of Section
157(1) of Cr.P.C. have both been cross-examined. No explanation is forthcoming
why there was a delay of two days in forwarding the copy of the FIR to the area
Magistrate.
The
eye witnesses claim the motorcycle to have been hit by the left side of the
bumper of the jeep. The bumper of the jeep, after seizure, was removed by Arvind
Khare and sent to forensic science laboratory. According to the report, Ex.
P-31, the dent caused by motorcycle is on the right side of the bumper.
Both
the eye-witnesses are chance witnesses. They do not assign any convincing
reason for being at the place of the incident at that abnormal hour of the day
in full summer. Raghubir Singh, PW4 was suffering from pain in legs. He would
not cycle to Shivpuri except for urgency or pressing need which there was none.
An
attempt on the part of the prosecution to rope in the father and his six sons
by alleging conspiracy to commit murder of the deceased is writ large though
the attempt has failed.
Looking
to the cumulative effect of all the abovesaid circumstances and having
scrutinized the testimony of the two eye witnesses carefully, we are not
inclined to place reliance on their testimony. Evidence has been adduced on
behalf of the defence to show that information as to the death of Peshawar
Singh having been caused and the dead body lying on A.B. road reached village Baskhedi
whereafter some family members of the deceased and the witnessed reached the
place of the incident, found the dead body of Peshawar Singh lying there and
informed the police whereafter the police swung into action. It was a case of
blind murder. Though the testimony of defence witnesses has been cursorily
touched by the trial Court and also by the High Court with both of whom the
testimony of two eye witnesses has been found to be more weighty than the defence
evidence on weighing in the scales. Having examined the testimony of defence
witness, four in number, originating from the residents of the village, we are
of the opinion that the same cannot just be thrown overboard. Be that as it
may, as we entertain grave doubt on the presence of the two eye witnesses at
the place of the incident so as to have witnessed the incident, the conviction
of the two accused appellants, which rests on the testimony of the two
witnesses, cannot be sustained.
The
appeal is allowed. The conviction of the two accused appellants under Section
302 IPC is set aside. They are directed to be released forthwith if not
required to be detained in connection with any other offence.
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