Delhi District Court
State vs . Satish @ Manoj Etc. on 9 December, 2014
IN THE COURT OF MR. UMED SINGH GREWAL
ASJ/SPECIAL JUDGE (NDPS)
NORTH DISTRICT:ROHINI COURTS:DELHI
SC No. 167/14
FIR No.60/14
P. S. S.P.Badli
U/S 395/412/120B/34 IPC
State
Vs.
1. Satish @ Manoj
s/o Lala Ram
R/o H.No. 2014, near Subzi Mandi
Dayal Market, Alipur, Delhi.
2. Sanjay @ Amlesh s/o Sher Singh
R/o Jhuggi No.477,
Near Patrachar College,
Timarpur, Delhi.
3. Montu @ Sarvesh S/o Lal Bihari
R/o Gali No.9, Vikas ka Makan,
Old Wazirabad, Delhi.
4. Vakil s/o Jaffruddin
Dairy No.3, Lucknow Road,
Timarpur, Delhi.
5. Ajay Kumar s/o Ram Prakash Sharma
R/o Flat no.100A, LIG Flats,
Near Gate no.6, School Road
Near Lawrence Road, Delhi.
6. Irfan @ Kale s/o Bahri Alam
State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc.
(FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 1 of16
R/o Jhuggi No.G802,
Jahangirpuri, Delhi
7. Mehtab @ Jacky
s/o Md. Wasim
R/o Mohalla Lahori,
Village Bindki, PS Bindki
Distt. Fatehpur, UP.
Date of institution of the case : 06.06.2014
Date when final arguments concluded : 04.12.2014
Date of pronouncement of judgment : 09.12.2014
Appearances: Mr. Joginder Malik, APP for the State.
Sh. Ajay Malviya, counsel for accused Ajay
Kumar.
Sh. Mukesh Kumar, counsel for accused
Irfan @ Kale.
Sh. N.K.Singh, counsel for accused Mehtab
@ Jacky.
Sh. Rehmat Siddiqui, counsel for accused
Sanjay @ Amlesh, Montu and Vakil.
Sh. Suresh Tomar, counsel for accused
Satish @ Manoj.
JUDGMENT
1. Accused Satish @ Manoj, Irfan @ Kale, Ajay Kumar, Montu @ Sarvesh and Mehtab @ Jacky have been forwarded by police to face trial u/s 395 CrPC. Allegations against accused Sanjay @ Amlesh and Vakil are u/s 412 IPC.
2. Facts are that complainant Balkishan and Dori Lal State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 2 of16 were security guards in the godown of Manish Mittal, situated in Khasra no. 219, in front of Om Properties, Mam Chand Dhania Marg, village Siraspur, Delhi. On 18.01.14 at 1.30 am, both guards were sitting inside the godown near main gate. Suddenly, 1415 persons scaled down the gate and entered the godown and overpowered both guards and snatched their mobile phones and cash of Rs.800/ and Rs.900/ respectively. They were shown pistols and knives and their faces were covered with clothes and hands were tied with plastic ropes. Thereafter, accused persons broke lock of the shutter. The guards were taken to the office by 23 persons and were threated that if they raised noise, they would be shot dead. Two accused persons kept on guarding them on the point of pistol and knives and remaining accused persons snapped the telephone and computer cables. The guards were regularly hearing the sound of loading of goods in a vehicle. The process of loading continued for one hour. While leaving, the accused persons threatened them for life if they sought assistance from any person. Dori Lal untied his hands after departure of miscreants. Another guard Jagmohan State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 3 of16 was called there who gave intimation of the incident to PCR. The miscreants were wearing black clothes and their age was between 2530 years. He informed Mr. Rakesh Garg, the manager of godown who further informed the owner Manish Mittal. Owner came to the godown and on checking, he found that 150 cartons of brass valves and 30 cartons of power tools, of the total cost of Rs.20 lacs were missing.
Accused Satish @ Manoj, Montu @ Sarvesh, Irfan @ Kale, Ajay Kumar, Sanjay @ Amlesh were arrested from a place under the flyover of Mukarba chowk on 31.01.14 on secret information. Accused Vakil was arrested at the instance of Sanjay @ Amlesh. Sanjay @ Amlesh got recovered two cartons of case property from his jhuggi no. 477, near Correspondence College, Timarpur. Accused Vakil got recovered a plastic katta (sack) containing case property from his dairy no.1, Lucknow Road, Timarpur. Accused Mehtab @ Jacky was arrested on 07.07.14. The accused who had not got effected any recovery, pointed out the place of dacoity.
3. Charge u/s 395 IPC against accused Satish @ Manoj, Irfan @ Kale, Ajay Kumar and Montu @ Sarvesh State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 4 of16 was framed on 18.09.14. On the same day charge u/s 412 IPC was framed against accused Sanjay @ Amlesh and Vakil. On 28.10.14 charge u/s 395 IPC was framed against Mehtab @ Jacky. All seven accused claimed trial.
4. Dacoity charge was attempted to be proved by the prosecution by examining seven witnesses. Accused did not examine any witness in defence.\
5. PW1 ASI Ajit Singh was heading mobile crime team, outer district on 18.01.14. On that day at 7.15 7.30am, on receipt of message from police control room that robbery had been committed at Khasra no. 219, Mam Chand Dhania Marg, Village Siraspur, Delhi, he alongwith other members of the mobile crime team including photographer Ct. Sandeep reached there. He inspected the spot and photographer Ct. Sandeep took photographs of the spot. He deposed that no chance prints could be lifted from the spot. He prepared detailed SOC report Ex.PW1/A and handed over the same to the IO.
PW4 Jagmohan deposed that he was employed as security guard in the godown of Mr. Manish Mittal, State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 5 of16 situated in front of Om Properties, Khasra no. 219 Mam Chand Dhania Marg, Siraspur, Delhi. He further deposed that another guard Balkishan came to his house and told that dacoity had been committed in the godown and he made a call to the police at 100 number. He intimated Mr. Rakesh Garg, Manager of the godown who reached the spot. Godown owner Mr. Manish Mittal also reached there.
PW5 Manish Mittal deposed that he was engaged in the business of import and trading of tools and hardware goods and valves. He was running godown at Khasra no. 219 Mam Chand Dhania Marg, Siraspur, Delhi where he used to store imported articles. He further deposed that on receipt of information on phone from his manager Rakesh Garg on 18.01.14 at 5.006.00 am that theft had been committed in the godown, he reached there. His security guard Balkishan who was on the duty in the night told that 1415 persons had entered the godown by scaling down the walls and overpowered him and other guard and looted the goods. He further deposed that around 200 cartons containing brass valves and power tools were found State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 6 of16 stolen. Cost of the stolen property was around Rs.2021 lacs. He identified the case property recovered from accused Sanjay @ Amlesh and Vakil as Ex.P1.
6. PW7 Inspr. Ajay Kumar is IO. He deposed that investigation of DD no. 11B Ex.PW7/A was marked to him and he alongwith Ct. Dharambir reached the place of occurrence i.e., a godown situated in Khasra no. 219 Mam Chand Dhania Marg, Siraspur, Delhi. He found the locks of the shutter broken and goods were ransacked. He recorded statement Ex.PW3/A of chowkidar Balkishan, prepared rukka Ex.PW7/B and sent Ct. Dharambir to PS who got the case FIR registered and returned to the spot and handed him over copy of FIR and original rukka. Crime team incharge ASI Ajit Singh inspected the spot, prepared SOC report Ex.PW1/A. Photographer took photographs Mark Ex.PW7/B of the spot. He further deposed that chhuri and a plastic ropes were lying at the spot and the same were seized vide seizure memo Ex.PW7/C. He prepared rough site plan Ex.PW7/D at the instance of complainant Balkishan.
PW7 further deposed that he received a tipoff on State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 7 of16 31.01.14 that the accused persons involved in the present case were sitting in the park near drain, Mukarba chowk flyover. Information was reduced into writing vide DD no.31A Ex.PW7/E. Raiding team of himself, informer, HC Rajpal, HC Jagat, Ramesh and Ct. Pritpal was formed which proceeded towards Mukarba chowk flyover in plain clothes and reached there in the evening. The informer pointed out towards five persons sitting in the park. All five were apprehended and on enquiry, they disclosed their names as Satish @ Manoj, Irfan @ Kale, Montu, Ajay Kumar and Sanjay @ Amlesh. They were arrested vide arrest memos Ex.PW3/B to Ex.PW3/G and personal search memos Ex.PW6/A and Ex.PW6/B. Disclosure statements Ex.PW6/C (Sanjay), Ex.PW7/F (Montu), Ex.PW7/G (Irfan @ Kale), Ex.PW7/H ( Ajay Kumar), Ex.PW7/J (Sanjay @ Manoj) were recorded after interrogation. Complainant Balkishan reached Mukarba chowk by chance and all the accused excluding Sanjay @ Amlesh were identified by him as the members of the dacoits. He further deposed that accused Sanjay @ Amlesh had disclosed that he had received some of the robbed State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 8 of16 articles and those were kept in his jhuggi located in Timarpur. Some of the articles were handed over by him to one Vakil. The accused Vakil was arrested on 01.02.14 vide arrest and personal search memos Ex.PW7/L and Ex.PW7/M respectively.
IO further deposed that the accused were taken out from the lockup on 03.02.14 and they led the police party to the godown where they had committed robbery and in this way pointing out memos Ex.PW6/D to Ex.PW6/G were prepared. Thereafter, accused Sanjay @ Amlesh led them to his jhuggi no. 477, near Correspondence College, Timarpur from where he got recovered two boxes, each box containing 50 small boxes and each small box was containing two small pieces of brass valves in polythene pouches and the words, "MVPL and MV Matrix" were written on the valves. Boxes were put in white plastic kattas which were taken into possession vide seizure memo Ex.PW6/H. Accused Vakil led them to his shop (tin shed) i.e., dairy no. 3, Lucknow Road, Timarpur from where he got recovered one box containing 50 small boxes and each small box was containing two pieces of State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 9 of16 brass valves on which words, "MVPL and MV Matrix"
were written. The box was kept in plastic katta which was sealed with the seal of AK. It was taken into possession vide memo Ex.PW6/J, rough site plan Ex.PW6/L of the spot of recovery was prepared and seal after use was handed over to Ct. Rakesh. Case property was deposited in malkhana. PW7 further deposed that role of a person namely Mehtab @ Jacky had also figured in the statement of accused. Accused Satish and Ajay Kumar were taken on police remand and they were taken to village Bindki, Fatehpur. It is pertinent that accused Mehtab @ Jacky is resident of that village. They visited PS Bindki where a tempo bearing no. UP 77A9588 was found parked and it was identified by accused Satish as the same tempo in which they had loaded the robbed goods from godown which were further transported to Bindki. The tempo could not be seized as it was wanted in an accident case registered in PS Bindki. It was found registered in the name of brother of accused Mehtab. He further deposed that he came to know that accused Mehtab was lodged in Kanpur jail in NDPS Act. The production warrants were State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 10 of16 issued 34 times by the court but he was not produced by the concerned jail authorities. He concluded investigation against all accused except Mehtab @ Jacky. He identified the case property Ex.P1.
PW6 Ct. Rakesh came was also with PW7 at the time of arrest of accused persons, their disclosure statements, pointing out memos and recoveries at their instance.
7. Ld. defence counsels argued that prosecution has failed to establish the identity of the accused persons who had committed dacoity. Pointing of place of dacoity by the accused is not admissible because no physical fact was discovered consequent thereto. They further submitted that recovery is shown to have been effected from accused Sanjay @ Amlesh and Vakil but there are contradictions in the testimony of PW6 and PW7 and also no independent public witness was joined in those proceedings. Their evidence is so week that it cannot be used to convict the accused.
8. 395 IPC As per chargesheet, two persons namely PW3 Balkishan and PW2 Dori Lal were present at the time of State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 11 of16 robbery. FIR was got registered by PW3 Balkishan claiming himself to be the eye witness. IO deposed that at the time of their apprehension on 03.01.14 near Mukarba chowk, PW3 had identified the accused who had committed robbery.
PW2 and PW3 deposed that 1415 accused persons entered the godown by scaling down the walls and gate. They were overpowered by the accused persons who were wielding pistols and knives. First, their faces were covered and they were taken to the office. The accused had disconnected the computer and telephone cables. In the end, both deposed that they cannot identify any of the accused because they had not seen any of them at the time of incident as their faces had been covered by the accused with clothes. Their hands were tied with plastic ropes. Due to backing out of PW2 and PW3 from their previous statements, prosecution has failed to establish identity of the accused who had participated in dacoity.
9. PW6 and PW7 deposed that accused Sanjay @ Manoj, Irfan @ Kale, Ajay and Monu @ Sarvesh had pointed out the place of robbery on 03.01.14. Accused Mehtab State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 12 of16 @ Jacky was arrested on 07.07.14 and on the same day, he also pointed out the place of robbery as was pointed out by the other accused.
It has come in the evidence of PW7 that he alongwith Ct. Dharambir had reached the godown as enquiry of DD no.11B Ex.PW7/A was assigned to him. He recorded statement Ex.PW3/A of chowkidar Balkishan. So, PW7 was already aware of the place of robbery before pointing out by the accused. Hence, no fact was discovered consequent to the pointing of the place by accused persons and hence, their case is squarely covered by Vijay Singh v. State and ors. Crl. Appeal No.819/12 decided on 030912. In the cited case, Hon'ble High Court of Delhi did not rely upon the pointing out memo holding that it was not admissible in evidence as it did not fall within the scope and ambit of section 27 of Indian Evidence Act 1872 because the place of occurrence was already known to the police.
10. 412 IPC PW6 and PW7 deposed that accused Sarvesh @ Amlesh led them to jhuggi no. 477, Timarpur, Delhi from where he got recovered two State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 13 of16 boxes, each box containing 50 small boxes and each small box was containing two pieces of brass valves on which the words, "MVPL and MV Matrix" were written. PW6 deposed that the box was sealed with the seal of AK. Thereafter, accused Vakil led the police party to his shop (tin shed), Dairy no.3, Lucknow Road, Timarpur and he got recovered one box containing the case property of the description got recovered by accused Sanjay @ Amlesh.
PW6 Rakesh Kumar was present at the time of apprehension of accused. During trial, he could not identify the accused who was overpowered by him near Mukarba chowk. He deposed in examinationinchief that the person apprehended by him had disclosed his name as Sanjay @ Amlesh and that he was not present in the court. Actually accused Sanjay @ Amlesh was present in the court on that day and that is why PW6 was declined hostile and he was shown accused Sanjay @ Amlesh and this time he identified him in response to a leading question by APP.
As per PW7, they had left the PS in official gypsy on 03.02.14 after receipt of secret information but PW6 State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 14 of16 deposed that they were in TATA tempo. PW6 could not recollect whether any person was present in the jhuggi of accused Sanjay @ Amlesh at the time of recovery but version of PW7 is that a lady was present in his jhuggi. PW6 deposed that crowd had not gathered outside the jhuggi but claim of PW7 is that crowd has assembled there.
11. It has been deposed by PW6 that jhuggi of Sanjay @ Amlesh was found open when accused led them there. Police did not collect any document to the effect that jhuggi no. 477, Timarpur was owned by accused Sanjay @ Amlesh. It also did not establish the ownership of dairy no.3 with accused Vakil.
PW7 could not remember the time when they left the PS for Mukarba Chowk on 03.02.14. He deposed that they were in a private vehicle but he could not remember what fare was paid to the tempo driver. He could not recollect the time of apprehension of the accused person. He could not recollect which particular relative of any particular accused was informed of their arrest. He could not remember which particular member of the raiding team had signed the arrest State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 15 of16 memo of any particular accused. He could not remember which of the raiding team member had personally searched the accused. He could not recollect the articles which were recovered from the personal search of the accused.
12. Evidence of PW6 and PW7 is of shaky nature.
Though nonjoining of independent public witnesses cannot cause doubt on the veracity of police witnesses but in the absence of such non joining, the testimony of police witnesses is to be perused with care and caution. There are various contradictions in the evidence of PW6 and PW7 regarding recovery and arrest of the accused. PW7 could not recollect material facts.
13. Taking into account all these facts, all the accused are acquitted of the charges leveled against them. Bail bonds, if any, stand cancelled. Sureties, if any, are discharged. Endorsements, if any, be cancelled. Accused in JC be released forthwith, if not required in any other case. File be consigned to record room. Announced in the Open Court On day of 9th December'2014 (UMED SINGH GREWAL) ASJ/Special Judge (NDPS) North Distt: Rohini Courts: Delhi State vs. Satish @ Manoj etc. (FIR no.60/14 PS S.P.Badli) 16 of16