Delhi District Court
State vs Seema & Ors. on 26 May, 2010
IN THE COURT OF SHRI RAJ KUMAR CHAUHAN
ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE/SPECIAL JUDGE: NDPS:
TIS HAZARI COURTS:(WEST) DELHI
FIR no. 73/09
Police station : Khyala
U/s328/304/201/120 B IPC
State V/s Seema & ors.
ORDER ON CHARGE
Present : Ld. APP for State
Accused Randeep is on interim bail.
Other Accused persons are in judicial custody with their
respective counsels.
The brief facts giving rise to registration of the present FIR and
arrest of the accused persons is as under :
During the present liquor tragedy cases 26 persons lost their
lives and several other were hosptialized at various hospital in Delhi. In this
regard, 26 cases were registered at police stations Dabri, Khyala and Rajouri
Garden including the present one. During the investigation of liquor tragedy
cases it transpired that spurious liquor of Shokeen brand was manufactured
at premises no. 6/1/8 Khasra no. 515 (617) 517 (61) Basai Enclave Part 1,
Near Shringri Gas Godown, Gurgaon by accused persons namely Raman,
Chaman, Pawan @ Pujari , Subhash , Anil , Biru etc; besides Shokeen
brand, other brands of liquor was also manufactured by them; stickers etc
were provided by accused Kuldeep , the raw spirit was arranged by Subhash
& Suraj @ Bhim from accused Randeep @ Nanhe . After manufacturing the
FIR no. 73/09 Page 1 of 17
spurious liquor it was given to accused Sukhbir @ Sukhu for supplying to
Basanta , a bootlegger in Delhi. During the investigation of liquor tragedy
cases, spurious liquor of Shokeen brand was recovered vide FIR no.
140/09 , PS Dabri, 144/09 , PS Dabri, 73/09 PS Khyala and 132/09 PS Dabri.
Further, stickers of Shokeen Brand were also recovered in case FIR no.
71/09 PS Khyala from the manufacturing unit at Gurgaon . Case property
(spurious liquor/stickers of Shokeen brand ) of all the above cases including
the recovered rectified spirit etc (seized in FIR no. 71/09 PS Khyala) were
sent to FSL Rohini for comparison with original samples of Queen Distillers,
Chandigarh including comparison of recovered spurious liquor amongst
themselves. After comparison , opinion of expert has been obtained and it
has been opined that spurious liquor (including shape of bottles , labels /
stickers , cap etc ) recovered in FIR no. 71/09 PS Khayala , 140/09 PS
Dabri , 144/09 PS Dabri , 73/09 PS Khyala and 132/09 PS Dabri does not
resemble with the original samples seized and sent for comparison in FIR no.
144/09 , PS Dabri and are forged and the spurious liquor (including bottles ,
caps and stickers etc) recovered in FIR no. 132/09 PS Dabri, FIR no. 71/09
PS Khayala , 140/09 PS Dabri, 144/09 PS Dabri, 73/09 , PS Khyala were
similar in terms of shape of bottles, design , size, printing etc of caps and
stickers /labels . It is pertinent to mention here that methyl alcohol was also
found in the the samples of spurious Shokeen brand liquor recovered in cases
vide FIR no. 140/09, PS Dabri, 144/09, PS Dabri , 73/09 PS Khyala .
2 That on 13.11.2009 a supplementary challan in respect of 7 accused
FIR no. 73/09 Page 2 of 17
persons namely Sukhbir , Subhash Chand, Suraj , Kuldeep Kumar, Randeep ,
Raman Singh and Chaman Singh was filed . As per allegations on 3.4.2009 ,
the co-accused Seema in the main challan had sold one quarter bottle make
Shokeen to the victim Mukesh s/o Mahipal which was consumed by him and
after consuming it , he started vomiting and also suffered breathing trouble
and was hospitalized . The doctor gave the final opinion on the MLC that he
had consumed suspected spurious alcohol poisoning Methyl Alcohol.
3 Roll and recoveries of each arrested accused is as under as :
Accused Raman Singh and Chaman Singh
On 11.5.2009 both were apprehended in a Wagon R car no. DL 9C S
2392 and got recovered 25 cartoon of illicit country made liquor .
Following incriminating material were recovered from ;Manoj Ka Makan,
Basai Enclave, Industrial Area, Gurgoan, Haryana :
1 Labels of masti Malta 1,25,500
2 Bombay no. 1 10,800
3 Jagadhari No. 1 1,84,500
4 Shokeen Santra 1, 44, 250
5 Black Bull 4, 250
6 Bottles Caps 4 bags
7 Empty bottles /nips /half 4 bags
8 Bottling machine 2
9 Rectified spirits 7 Drums
Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha
Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha is the supplier , who supplied illicit liquor
FIR no. 73/09 Page 3 of 17
to accused Basanta , a known bootleggers . During the course of
investigation of case FIR no. 132/09 u/s 328/304 IPC PS Dabri , Delhi, 79
nips were recovered.
At the instance of accused Sukhbir @ Sukha , the stickers /label of
'Shokeen' masaledar country made liquor brand are recovered which are
similar with the sticker /label recovered from Basai , Gurgaon at the instance
of accused Raman & Chaman and differ from the stickers /label of company.
One public witness Ashok Kumar examined during investigation who
confirmed that Sukhbir @ Sukha supplied lillicit liquor to Basanta.
Accused Basanta
Basanta used to receive illicit liquor from Sukhbir @ Sukha .
Statement of Public witnesses including family members of deceased
persons confirmed that accused Basanta used to provide spurious liquor to
deceased persons at his home.
Accused Subhash
During investigation, illicit liquor stickers recovered from the
possession of accused Subhash were :
Labels of Murhtal No. 1 48, 510
Accused Suraj @ Bhim
Accused Suraj @ Bhim acting on the instructions of accused Subhash
used to bring rectified spirit from accused Randeep @ Nanhe and handed
over to Raman & others. Following labels were recovered from his
possession
FIR no. 73/09 Page 4 of 17
Labels of Mastana country made liquor 33,320
And two drums (200 litre each ) were also recovered at the instance of
both of accused persons namely Suraj @ Bhim and Suibhash
Accused Randeep @ Nanhe
Four barrels (about 800 litres ) Rectified spirit were recovered from
his hotel Dhaba namely Bholey Ka Dhaba near by his village Rukhi, Distt
Sonipat , Haryana, He purchased this rectified spirit by the trucks passing
near to his dhaba.
Accused Kuldeep Kumar
Accused Kuldeep Kumar used to print stickers/labels for this illicit
liquor. Following stickers /Labels were recovered at his instance.
1 Total 11 Plastic films Bony whisky, Bonn , Pagdi Dhari ,
Blended Whisky, Raat Di Rani, Ghumer , Desi Sharab , Desi Madira, for
defence service only . For sale in Haryana , For sale in U.P and for sale in
Rajasthan .
2 labels of Royal Stag Whisky 15,048
3 labels of Bagpiper Deluxe Whisky 10, 500
4 ARGUMENTS OF Ld. DEFENCE COUNSEL
Arguments on behalf of accused Basanta by Ld. Counsel Shri
Deepak Ghai , advocate .
He has submitted that accused has played no part so as to attract the
FIR no. 73/09 Page 5 of 17
charge of conspiracy as there is no evidence except his disclosure statement .
The disclosure statement of coaccused Sukhbir is not admissible in evidence
against him as there is no other evidence to link him to the manufacturing
of the alleged liquor ; the accused has not sold any liquor to any person as
alleged and he has been falsely implicated by the police for ulterior motives.
5 Shri S. N Qureshi, Ld. Counsel for accused Sukhbir.
He has argued that the accused has played no role in alleged
conspiracy and there is no evidence to link him to the manufacturing of the
alleged liquor ; the allegations of supply of the liquor by coaccused Basanta
are totally false as there is no evidence in that regard ; the disclosure of co
accused is not admissible in evidence; he was falsely arrested in case FIR no.
132/09 after a period of six months of alleged incident and false disclosure
statement was recorded by the Investigating officer and false recovery of
'Petti' of Shokeen Masaledar Sharab was shown which was planted by the
police in order to falsely implicate him in the case. In all other cases, he
has been falsely implicated just on the basis of false disclosure statement in
the above FIR . There is no material evidence against him to link to the
offence alleged for which he has been chargesheeted.
6 Shri Absar Ahmed Ld. Counsel for accused Subhash and Suraj
He has argued that they have been falsely arrested on the disclosure
statement of coaccused Basanta which was otherwise not admissible in
evidence. ; there is no evidence against them to show their participation in
alleged conspiracy for manufacturing and supply of the spurious liquor ;
nothing was recovered from accused persons and recovery of the alleged
FIR no. 73/09 Page 6 of 17
stickers /labels was planted in order to falsely implicate them. There is no
other evidence or material against them except the alleged recovery of the
stickers /labels from them.
7 Ld. APP for State submitted that there is recovery of 200 litres of
Mastana country made liquor from each accused. Ld. APP for State further
submitted that as per FSL report said liquor was found to be spurious.
8 Shri Anoop Shrama, Ld. Counsel for accused Kuldeep has
submitted that he was falsely arrested on the disclosure of coaccused
Subhash in case FIR no. 71/09. As per allegations on consuming spurious
liquor in total 26 persons allegedly died by consuming Shokeen and
Shokeen Masledar; the alleged recovery from the accused has been shown on
12.9.2009and 17.9.2009 which is labels of Royal Stag and Bagpiper ; another recovery from the accused has been shown to be of plastic films and aluminum plates .None of the alleged recovered plastic films and aluminum plates show that it pertains to Shokeen or Shokeen Masledar; there is no recovery which may connect the accused with the manufacturing or supply of Shokeen or Shokeen masaledar spurious liquor which was allegedly consumed by the deceased persons as being claimed by prosecution. There is no material or evidence against him to connect him with alleged conspiracy as no material is brought on record to show that he was connected in any manner with manufacturing or supply of the alleged printing material used for labeling and manufacturing of the alleged spurious liquor .
9 Accused Randeep @ Nanhe argued
by Shri Keshav Kaushik
FIR no. 73/09 Page 7 of 17
Advocate
As per allegations of the prosecution 800 litres of rectified spirit was recovered from the dhaba of accused namely Bholey Ka Dhaba which was a false and planted recovery ; there is no material to link him with alleged conspiracy of manufacturing or supply of alleged spurious liquor ; there is no evidence that he has ever supplied the spirit for manufacturing of alleged spurious liquor which might be consumed by the deceased and injured persons ; there is nothing on record to shows as to what was the source of the allegedly recovered rectified spirit which shows the same has been planted by the police . There is no evidence or investigation on the aspect as to from what tanker /truck the alleged spirit was procured by the accused at any time. 10 Ld. APP for State however submitted that four barrels (about 800 liters ) rectified spirit were recovered from accused Randeep @ Nanhe from his hotel Dhaba namely Bholey Ka Dhabar near his village Rukhi , Distt. Sonipat , Haryana which was chemically examined in FSL. As per FSL report dated 1/2/2010 the same is found to contain Methyl Alcohol , a poisonous substance 11 Argument for accused Raman and Chaman There is no evidence /material against them to link them with the offence alleged . As per the allegations and investigation some person namely Pawan @ Pujari is alleged to have been engaged in manufacturing of liquor . Pawan @ Pujari is real brother of the accused person living separately and having no concern with accused Raman and Chaman in any manner . They have been made scape goat deliberately by police in order to FIR no. 73/09 Page 8 of 17 save the real culprits; they have been arrested falsely on the disclosure of coaccused persons which is not admissible in evidence ; there is no evidence against them to show their participation in the alleged conspiracy for manufacturing and supply of spurious liquor at any point of time . 12 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding accused Basanta As per challan u/s 173 Cr. PC the Investigating officer had collected evidence during investigation that accused Basanta was engaged in supply and sale of alleged spurious liquor which was consumed by deceased persons; he has been obtaining spurious liquor from accused Sukhbir @ Sukha ; the relatives of the deceased persons are witness to that effect that accused has been selling spurious liquor which was purchased by the deceased.
13 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha Ld. APP for State submits that he has been engaged in supply of spurious liquor to accused Basanta after procuring the same from Raman and Chaman who were manufacturing spurious liquor at Gurgaon , Basai, Sector 10 Industrial Area, Gurgaon.
14 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding Accused Suraj and Subhash As per allegations they have been supplying rectified spirit to accused Raman and Chaman for manufacturing the spurious liquor . They have been taking the rectified spirit for that purpose from Randeep @ Nanhe who has FIR no. 73/09 Page 9 of 17 been procuring the same from the truck /canter passing through his Dhaba . Two drums of rectified spirit was also recovered . 200 litres each from Subhash and Suraj which was chemically examined and found to be Methyl Alcohol.
15 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding accused Kuldeep As per investigation , he has been found manufacturing the stickers/Labels which were used for manufacturing the alleged spurious liquor of coaccused Raman and Chaman for the purpose of selling the same to be genuine. During investigation the sticker /label of Royal Stag (15,408) and Bagpiper Deluxe Whisky (10,500) have been recovered . 11 Plastic films Bony whisky, Bonn, Pagdi Dhari , Blended whisky , Raat Di Rani , Ghumer Deshi Sharab, Desi Madira for defence service only for sale in Haryana and U.P and for sale in Rajasthan .
Admittedly there is no recovery of label /sticker /films from the accused of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar .
16 Ld. APP for State submitted that he has destroyed the labels/stickers of Shokeen and Shokeen Masaledar and for that purpose section 201 IPC was added. He has disclosed in his statement about destruction of those labels of Shokeen and Shokeen Masaledar . Ld. APP for State further submitted that recovery of the stickers of various other brands shows that he had been preparing those forged and fabricated stickers ; he has no authority /licence from any authority of those branded liquors to publish or supply the stickers/labels of those brands ; three machines were found affixed in his premises which were being used for the purpose of FIR no. 73/09 Page 10 of 17 printing of those forged labels . Those two premises of accused Kuldeep are lying sealed ; FSL team has visited the premises for the purpose of expert opinion to find out whether recovered stickers/labels could have been published from these machines and FSL report is awaited. 17 Submissions of Ld. APP for State for accused Raman and Chaman Both the accused were running a factory of manufacturing of illegal liquor at Basai ,Gurgaon and Haryana and incriminating material was recovered from Manoj Ka Makan, Basai Enclave, Part I , Industrial Area, Gurgaon as mentioned in the challan.
18
Reply of Ld. Counsel on behalf of accused Kuldeep to the contention of Ld. APP for State Ld. Counsel for accused Kuldeep in his reply to the contentions and submissions of the Ld. APP for State submits that there is no complaint of the alleged companies whose stickers have been allegedly found from the premises of the accused. Disclosure statement of accused is not admissible; nothing is mentioned in disclosure statement that he had been manufacturing labels /stickers. ; disclosure statement of the other accused is not admissible in evidence; there is no recovery of the facts /objects in pursuance to the disclosure of this accused as well as coaccused persons so as to link him with alleged offence; though not admitted at the most if allegations are presumed to be true he can be proceeded only under Excise Act; the FIR no. 73/09 Page 11 of 17 allegedly seized machines from the premises can be used only for manufacturing card board (gatta) only and no such labels /stickers as used for the branded whisky can be manufactured by those machines. The allegations of destruction of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar Labels is totally false because if he has destroyed those stickers what prevented him from destroying other allegedly recovered stickers from his premises. The accused Subhash has disclosed in his statement that he is procuring label of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar from accused Kuldeep.
19 I have considered the rival submissions made at bar and gone through the material on record .
20 Regarding the nature of evidence about the alleged conspiracy between the accused persons , the Hon'ble Apex court in E. K Chandrasenan Vs State of Kerala , AIR 1995 SC, 1066 has held :
"The conspiracies are not hatched in open , by their nature , they are secretly planned . They can be proved even by circumstantial evidence , the lack of direct evidence relating to conspiracy has no consequence "
21 After going through material on record as collected during investigation and also the statement of the witnesses recorded during investigation, it is found that all the accused persons have played their independent role in manufacturing and supply of spurious liquor which was ultimately sold to the deceased by accused Basanta as a result he has died . 22 The contention is raised by Ld. Defence counsel for each accused FIR no. 73/09 Page 12 of 17 wherein they had stated that alleged role of the accused persons is different and they cannot be charged for the offence u/s 120 B IPC because there is no direct evidence on record to show that each accused was acting in prosecution of criminal conspiracy or has agreed to the alleged conspiracy of manufacturing , supply and sale of spurious liquor. 23 Admittedly as laid down by Hon'ble Apex Court in case of E. K Chandrasenan Vs State of Kerala , referred SUPRA , it is not always possible to establish criminal conspiracy by direct evidence and factum of criminal conspiracy can be proved by circumstantial evidence . The circumstantial evidence in the prosecution case shows that all the accused persons had been acting in consonance with each other and their role is supplementary and complimentary to the acts of each other . 24 The material on record shows that accused Raman and Chaman alongwith some other persons i.e Pawan @ Pujari not yet arrested and Subhash were engaged in the manufacturing of spurious liquor at their premises in Gurgaon. The recovered spirit containing methyl alcohol was being supplied to them by accused Subhash and Suraj @ Bhim after procuring the same from accused Randeep @ Nanhe who used to receive the said rectified spirit from the tanker /truck passing through the road on which his dhaba was situated.
25 Accused Kuldeep was found in possession of Stickers/Labels of various brands of whiskies and as per disclosure statement of co accused Subhash , they used to procure stickers for manufacturing the spurious liquor from accused Kuldeep . The contention of the ld. Counsel for accused FIR no. 73/09 Page 13 of 17 Kuldeep is that no label /stickers of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar which was allegedly consumed by deceased persons were found/recovered from his possession and as such he cannot be charged for the conspiracy. I am of the considered opinion that considering the disclosure statement and recovery of various stickers /labels of various whiskies which according to the statement of the witnesses of the respective distilleries were fabricated and forged, at the stage of framing of the charge, it is not necessary in the given circumstances that the stickers of the Shokeen brand must have been found and recovered from his premises . Even case of the prosecution is that he has destroyed the said stickers/labels of Shokeen /Shokeen Masledar in a clandestine manner. Further his premises had been inspected by team of the FSL to find out whether the machines found therein could print such stickers which were allegedly recovered from his possession. Therefore, material collected during investigation is sufficient which has linked accused Kuldeep to the alleged supply of the labels /stickers of the various brands of liquor which was allegedly being manufactured illegally by accused Raman and Chaman . Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha was engaged allegedly in supply of illicit manufactured liquor by accused Raman and Chaman to accused Basanta and other bootleggers in Delhi.
26 The contention of the Ld. Counsel for accused Sukhbir was that he has played no role in manufacturing and selling of the alleged liquor and therefore no charge u/s 120 B IPC or any other offence can be framed against him because there is no evidence on record to show that he got supplied the illicit prepared liquor to accused Basanta after procuring the FIR no. 73/09 Page 14 of 17 same from accused Raman and Chaman .
27 Ld. APP for the state pointed out that there is one witness Ashok Kumar examined during investigation who has confirmed that accused Sukhbir was engaged in supply of illicit liquor to accused Basanta . It is further submitted that during course of investigation of case FIR 132/09 , PS Dabri , 79nips were recovered at the instance of accused Sukhbir . Further at his instance stickers /labels of Shokeen /Shokeen Masledar similar with the stickers /label recovered from Basai Gurgaon premises used for manufacturing illicit liquor were also recovered. . 28 Thus, the above discussion shows that the role of individual accused is such which has interwoven the facts of this liquor tragedy in such a manner that their role cannot be separated from each other so far as they were found engaged in manufacturing /supply and sale of illicit liquor which was ultimately sold by accused Basanta to the deceased. Hence the material on record primafacie shows that all the accused persons have conspired together in the manufacturing /supply and sale of illicit liquorwhich was sold to the ultimate person who is Mukesh in this case and after consuming it , he started vomiting and also suffered breathing trouble and was hospitalized . The doctor gave the final opinion on the MLC that he had consumed suspected spurious alcohol poisioning /Methyl Alcohol. And hence all the accused persons are liable to be charged for the offence u/s 120 B IPC. 29 Considering the material on record and after going through the contentions of Ld. Counsels for accused persons, I am of the considered opinion that material on record is sufficient which prima facie discloses the FIR no. 73/09 Page 15 of 17 offence under section 120 B /328//201 IPC against all the accused persons except Seema and Sukhbir @ Sukha who had already been charged U/s120 B /328/ IPC and 61/1/14 Excise Act.
It is therefore, ordered that all the accused persons be charged U/s120 B /328//201 IPC .
Announced in the open court on 26th day of May 2010 (RajKumar Chauhan) Additional Sessions Judge Special Judge : NDPS (West) FIR no. 73/09 Page 16 of 17