Delhi District Court
State vs . Trilochan Singh & Ors on 7 August, 2008
-1-
IN THE COURT OF SH. SUDESH KUMAR, M. M., NEW DELHI
STATE Vs. TRILOCHAN SINGH & ORS
JUDGEMENT
(a) The Srl. no. of the case : 35/2
(b) The FIR no. of the case : 367/1988
(b) The date of commission of offence : 8/7/1988
(c) The name of complainant : Patricia A. Butenis, American Counsul
(d) The name of accused : (i) Trilochan Singh s/o Karan Singh
R/o Plot no. 171, Partap Nagar,
New Delhi.
(ii) Gian Singh s/o Gokal Singh
R/o C-29, Acharya Niketan,
Mayur Vihar, New Delhi.
(iii) Amar Singh s/o Ajit Singh
R/o Gali no. 6, H. No. 577, Gobind Puri
New Delhi.
(e) The offence complained of/ proved : U/s 420/468/471/34 IPC
(f) The plea of accused : Pleaded not guilty
and claimed trial.
(g) Date of Institution : 7/3/1990
(h) The date on which : 7/8/2008
judgment was reserved
(i) The final order : Acquitted
(j) The date of such order : 7/8/2008
Brief statement of the reasons for the decision :-
1. The prosecution story in brief is that on 8/7/1988 at Mohan Singh Palace, Con. Place, within the jurisdiction of PS C Place, all accused in furtherance of common -2- intention forged the American Visas and the receipts of arrival and departure at Indira Gandhi International Airport for the purpose of cheating and in furtherance of common intention used the forged American visas on the passports of four persons namely Gurdayal Singh, Gurmit Singh, Baljinder Singh and Gurjit Singh by inducing them and the above said receipts as genuine knowing or having reason to believe the same to be forged documents and hence committed an offence u/s 420/468/471/34 IPC for which FIR No. 367/88 was registered against the accused persons .
2. The matter was investigated by the police and a charge sheet U/s 420/468/471/34 IPC r.w. 120 B IPC was filed against the accused persons .
3. From the material on record a Charge U/s 420 /468/471/34 IPC was made out against accused persons Trilochan Singh , Gian Singh and Amar Singh to which accused persons pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
4. To support its case the prosecution has examined 8 witnesses.
5. PW 1 Insp. Gurdip Singh has stated that on 8/7/88 he was posted as Inspector at Spl. Staff, New Delhi. On that day, he alongwith SI Subey Singh, ASI Amar Singh, HC Ram Kishan and alongwith Constables were on patrolling duty reached near rivoli cinema at about 2.00pm. A secret information was received that one person standing near the gate of Mohan Singh Place Market is having forged passports and visa. On this information a raiding party was formed. At about 3 pm accused Trilochan who is present in the court today was apprehended and he was carrying one bag it was searched and from the bag five Indian passports containing US visa, eight Thai Airways ticket from Delhi to Bankok and six tickets of Royal Nepal Airlines, one blank Canadian visa blank were recovered from the bag. The visa and the passport were got checked from US embassy and US visa was found forged. Subsequently, case was registered by ASI Amar Singh against accused Trilochan Singh and he was arrested. His disclosure was recorded who disclosed that he had charged Rs. 20,000/- for each visa and he got prepared these visa from his colleague accused Gian Singh. Accused Gian Singh was also arrested on 5/9/88 and from his possession two passports (Indian) forged stamps of IGI Airport Immigration and some paper of the passports were recovered from him. Accused -3- Gian Singh also stated that he alongwith Amar Singh prepared these visas. Accused Amar Singh was also arrested . From the house of accused Gian Singh printing block and other material was seized. Documents were sent to passport office for verification report was obtained and after that documents were got examined from CFSL. ASI Amar Singh completed the investigation in his supervision . The witness further submitted that he signed on recovery memo EX.PW 1/A,B,C,D and disclosure statement of accused EX.PW 1/E,F and the personal search memo EX.PW 1/G,H. He also identified recovered documents EX.P1 to P7 which were recovered from accused Trilochan Singh vide memo EX.P1/C . He further deposed that he can also identify the remaining articles, ie. Block, rubber stamp etc if shown to him. The case property was produced before the court and the said witness correctly identified the case property.
6. In cross examination by Ld. Counsel for the accused he stated that they stayed at the spot for about 1 hour and in between they had gone to US Embassy to verify the visas recovered on the five passports and the Embassy officials told that the visas are forged. Many public persons were available there and they were asked to join as independent witness but to no avail. The said witness further stated in cross examination that the said public person did not disclose their names and addresses and no action were taken against them and he further stated that shops were situated inside Mohan Singh Palace and outside the place from where accused was arrested and the said witness further stated that accused Trilochan was alone when he was arrested and he does not know whether bag was in his right or left hand and he further stated that he cannot tell the colour of the bag and he denied the suggestion that accused was going to airport in Taxi and thereafter he was arrested with his friend and he further denied the suggestion that passports and visas were with him and he further denied the suggestion that all the proceedings were conducted at his office and he denied the suggestion that nothing was recovered from the possession of the accused persons.
7. PW 2 Gurjit Singh has deposed that on 8/7/88 he alongwith Baljinder Singh, Gurdayal Singh and Gurmit Singh whom he know very well and who also -4- belonged to Punjab had come to Delhi and stayed at Hari Nagar with some relatives at Delhi and they had came to Delhi to get an visa for America where they wanted to work. At Delhi they had contacted so many travel agents who could arrang the visa for them for America . Later on they came to know that Trilochan Singh who is working in travel agency in Connaught Place can arrange the visa for America and who is working in some Nagia office. He alongwith the above stated three persons contacted the accused Trilochan for visa to America where Trilochan Singh demanded Rs. 20,000/- from each of them and who also told them that prior to getting the visa to America visa of Romania and Thailand have to be obtained and only then they can get the visa for America and for this purpose Rs. 20,000/- have to be spend. Upon this they handed over Rs. 80,000/- in total for each of them where the accused told them that he will get the visa arranged within 4 /5 days and they had also handed over their passport to the accused Trilochan Singh. Thereafter, they contacted accused Trilochan in the office of Nagia at Connaught Place who shown their passport to them and told them that he had arranged the visa of Romania and Thailand for them and in a short span of time accused will arrange visa for America and accused demanded more money regarding tickets on concessional rate for Rs. 17000/- for each of them and where they had handed over Rs. 68000/- to the accused in total, after 2/ 3 days when accused Trilochan Singh was contacted about the visa for America, accused told that he had arranged the visa for America for them and he will accompany them to Thailand but later on they came to know that accused is in habit of arranging forged visa. The witness deposed that they had also contacted the American embassy to know whether some visa has been issued to them in their name, where they came to know that no visa was issued to them . He further stated that they contacted the accused that he had obtained forged visa and handed over their amounts to them where the accused told that this is not a forged visa. But they insisted the accused to get verify the visa from American Embassy but the accused lingerd on the matter and further stated that he had confirmed their tickets and also accompany them. On 8/7/08 they went to Con. Place in the office where accused was working and demanded back the amount but accused did not gave response properly. Opportunity to cross examine -5- the witness was given to counsel for accused but to no avail.
8. PW 3 Inspector Sube Singh has stated that on 8/7/98 he was posted at Spl Staff as SI. On that day, he including Inspector Gurdip Singh and other staff were present near Regal cinema at about 2.45pm they received a secret information that Trilochan Singh was standing in front of Mohan Singh Place. If raid is conducted forged passport and other documents can be recovered from the accused. On this information raiding party including the staff was organized and at about 3pm the accused was caught. Accused Trilochan was carrying one bag containing 5 passports one visa ticket of Canada and 14 tickets of Air the same was taken into possession vide memo EX.PW 1/C. The accused was arrested vide personal search memo EX.PW 1/G. Disclosure of accused was also recorded vide memo EX.PW 1/E.
9. PW 4 ASI Tilak Raj has stated that on 5/9/88 he was posted at Spl Staff as Ct. on that day, he was present in investigation of this case with ASI Amar Singh, Inspector Kuldeep Singh and other Constables on Govt. jeep. The same was being driven by Ct Driver Sukhbir Singh and at about 3.30pm they were present at Con. Place and as ASI Amar Singh was having information that the absconded accused against whom the NBW is issued will come to Con. Place to receive money from the travel agent. In the meantime, ASI received information secretly that accused Gian Singh has been seen in Palika Bazar and has gone towards Mohan Singh Palace. When they reached at the Mohan Singh Palace, it was revealed over there that Gian Singh accused is standing behind the Mohan Singh Palace and waiting for some travel agent. He further stated that they reached behind Mohan Singh Palace and at the instance of secret informer accused Gian Singh was apprehended. On interrogation, accused Gian Singh disclosed voluntarily that he has given many passports to Trilochan Singh after getting affixed forged visa of America and fake stamps of arrival and departure of IGI Airport and he received Rs. 10,000/- each for a visa from Trilochan Singh and whatever accused Gian Singh disclosed voluntarily was reduced into writing and same is EX.PW 1/F. Personal search of the accused was conducted through EX.PW 1/L. The accused in pursuance of the disclosure statement pointed out and took the police party to his residence and -6- from inside the room, the accused Gian Singh produced one wooden block of American visa forged, two rubber stamps of IGI Airport of arrival , one rubber stamp on which word 'deleted' was written and negative of forged American vis and same was printed on hardboard, two passports on which the photos are not there and was having fake visa of America and arrival entry on page no. 6 and loose papers of the passport, one photographs were also affixed. Wooden block and the rubber stamp deleted were kept in a parcel and sealed with the seal of SSY. Then articles were seized through seizure memo EX.PW 1/D. He further stated that on 11/9/88 he was also present with IO in the investigation of the case and accused Gian Singh was also with them in a PC. The accused Gian Singh took the police party to Gali no. 6, H. NO. 577 GovindPuri and at his instance from there, accused Amar Singh was arrested at the instance of Gian Singh. Accused Amar Singh was interrogated and was arrested and he made disclosure statement voluntarily EX.PW 1/E and accused got recovered the frame of screen painting on which the screen paint of page no. 3 and 4 of the passport was there of red colour film and four positive page of page no. 1 to 4 and two stickers of Bhartiya Passport Adhikari in Hindi and English in red colour was written and these were recovered at the shop of the accused at his instance and were seized through seizure memo EX.PW4/A. Personal search of accused Amar Singh was conducted vide memo EX.PW 4/B. Examination in chief was deferred for want of case property.
10.Case property was produced before the court. One block of negative and 11 loose papers and two passports in the name of Ram Niwas and Kailash Chand were shown from judicial file. The same were correctly identified by the witness and 11 loose papers are EX.P22(colly), negatives are EX.P24 (colly) and the passports are EX.P27 and EX.P28. One other sealed pulanda with the seal of court seal is produced by MHCM. The seal is broken and from the pulanda four stamps are taken out . Same are also identified by the witness to be same which were recovered from accused Gian Singh and the same are EX.P29 to EX.P32. Four pages of passport and 2 stickers of passport and one wooden frame are shown to the witness. Wooden frame is identified by the witness as EX.P26and four pages are identified by witness as EX.P23.
-7-11.PW 5 SI Rajender Singh has deposed that on 13.10.88 he was posted in FRRO as Store keeper and on the same day he had produced stamps arrival departure photocopy mark A1 to A4 to the IO having departure arrival stamps of Indira Gandhi Airport and was seized vide memo EX.PW 5/A. His statement was recorded.
12.PW 6 SI Amar Singh has stated that on 8/7/88 he was posted in Spl. Staff . On that day he alongwith Inspector Gurdeep Singh , SI Sube Singh and HC Ram Kishan , Ct. Sanjay, Ct. Richpal and Ct. Tilak Raj were on patrolling duty in a Govt. Vehicle no. DED 2548 and at about 2 pm they were present near Rivoli cinema, Con. Place. At that time, a secret information was received that one person namely Trilochan Singh who is in business of providing fake American Visa and other countries on the passports is standing in front of Mohan Singh Place for returning the said passports to the persons to whom they belong and he used to take Rs. 20,000/- each in providing fake visas of America and other countries. On this information, one raiding party was prepared consisting himself and secret informer and at about 3 pm they reached at main gate Mohan Singh Place. At the pointing out of secret informer at about 3 pm they apprehended accused Trilochan Singh . The accused was having one bag in his hand and on searching of the bag 5 Indian passports in the name of Gurdayal Singh, Baljinder Singh, Gurjeet Singh and one passport in his name were recovered. The passport of Gurdayal, Gurmeet Singh, Baljinder and Gurjeet Singh were having American visa. Eight tickets of Thai Airways of Delhi Bangkok Delhi and six tickets of Royal Nepal Airlines from Delhi to Kathmandu and one empty visa sticker of Canada was also recovered from the bag. On interrogation accused disclosed that the said fake visas were put on the passports with the help of one Gurdayal Singh and he had received Rs. 20,000/- each from passport holders. All the 4 visas belonging to American Embassy were confirmed and all were found fake. All the articles recovered from bag and bag were taken into possession vide memo EX.PW 1/C. He prepared a rukka EX.PW 6/A and same was handed over to HC Ram Kishan for getting a FIR registered at PS Con. Place and original rukka and same were handed over to him. He arrested the accused and personal search memo EX.PW 1/G. He recorded the -8- disclosure statement of accused Trilochan Singh EX.PW 1/E. He took the police custody remand of accused. He searched for co-accused persons namely Gyan Singh and Amar Singh. On 5/9/88 he arrested accused Gyan Singh vide his personal search memo EX.PW 1/G. Accused Giyan Singh was taken on police remand and he recorded his statement EX.PW 1/F. Accused took us to his house at H. No. C 29, Trilok Puri, Acharya Niketan, Mayur Vihar and from one room he got recovered one fake American visa block on which no. 1042 was written and two arrival stamp of IGI airport and one stamp on which 'Deleted' word was written the block and all the stamps were kept in a white cloth and a pulanda was prepared and the same were sealed with the seal of SSY. Accused also got recovered one negative of the fake American Visa block , 2 passports in the name of Ram Niwas and Kailash Chand and some loose papers and same were taken into possession vide seizure memo EX.PW 1/D. He further deposed that on 11/9/88 he arrested the accused Amar Singh vide his personal search memo EX.PW 4/B. HC Ram Singh and Ct. Tilak Raj were with him. He recorded the disclosure statement of accused Amar Singh EX.PW 6/B. Accused Amar Singh was arrested at the instance of accused Gyan Singh who took them to H. NO. 577, Gali no. 6, Govind Puri, New Delhi. At the instance of accused Amar Singh 4 positive page no. 1,2,3 and 4 of Indian passports and two stickers having Passport Authority of India and one frame of wood were recovered and same were taken into possession vide seizure EX.PW 1/A. On 13/12/88 he took original stamp visa S1 into possession from American Embassy vide seizure memo EX.PW 1/C. He took the sample of arrival and departure stamps mark A (Colly) vide seizure memo EX.PW 5/A. He took the report of the visas on the passports of Gurjeet, Gurmeet, Baljinder and Gurdayal recovered from the accused from US Embassy and same was found to be fake. The said letter was taken into possession vide seizure memo EX.PW 1/A, the letter is EX.PW 6/E. He also obtained the report from Canadian High Commission regarding the visa sticker recovered from accused Trilochan Singh vide seizure memo EX.PW 1/B. The letter in this regard is EX.PW 6/F. He also got obtained the report of the stamp affixed on passport belongs to one Ram Niwas same was taken into possession vide memo EX.PW 6/G and the letter is EX.PW 6/H. He sent -9- the specimen seals as well as recovered seals to FSL for comparison. He collected the report. He recorded the statement of witnesses, completed the investigation, prepared the challan and the same was filed in the court. The five passports recovered from Trilochann Singh are EX.P1 to EX.P5 and two passports recovered from accused Gyan Singh are EX.P6 and EX.P7. The Air tickets are EX.P8 to EX.P21 which were recovered from accused Trilochan Singh. The witness has correctly identified the case property and same are EX.P29 to EX.P32. The other wooden frame is also produced by MHCM and the same is identified by the witness as EX.P26. Two passports in the name of Ram Niwas and Kailash Chand are also shown to the witness and the same are identified by the witness which were recovered from the possession of accused Gyan Singh.
13.PW 7 S L Mukhi, Retd. Principal Scientific Officer, CFSL, CBI has deposed that the documents of this case were examined by him with the help of Scientific equipments and after a thorough scientific examination, he submitted report no. CFSL 88/D-4454 Dt. 24/10/89 as all the details about the examination of documents and result therein . His report is EX.PW 7/A. Opportunity to cross examine the witness was given to counsel for accused but to no avail.
14.PW 8 Retd. HC Ram Kishan has deposed that on 8/7/88 he was posted at Spl. Staff, New Delhi as HC. On that day, he alongwith SI Sube Singh , Inspector Gurdeep Singh, ASI Amar Singh and some Ct. were on patrolling duty and reached near Rivoli cinema at about 2 pm. A secret information was received that one person is standing near the gate of Mohan Singh Place market and is having forged passports and visas. On this information, a raiding party was prepared and on this information accused Trilochan Singh was having a carry bag in his hand. The said carry bag was searched and they found 5 Indian passports from the bag containing US visas, 8 Thai Air tickets from New Delhi to Bangkok and 6 tickets of Royal Nepal Airlines, 1 blank Canadian visa was also recovered from the bag. The visa and passports were got checked from US embassy and found that the said passports were having fake US visas. Subsequently, a rukka was prepared by ASI Amar Singh and the rukka the said FIR was registered at PS Con. Place . Accused was interrogated and was arrested in this case. The above said articles recovered from -10- the bag of accused were taken into possession vide memo EX.PW 1/C. Accused was interrogated and was arrested in this case and he disclosed that he had charged Rs. 20000/- for each visa and he got prepared these visas from his colleague accused Gian Singh . The disclosure statement of accused Trilochan Singh is EX.PW 1/E and personal search memo EX.PW 1/G. He further stated on 11/9/88 he again joined the investigation of this case with ASI Amar Singh and Ct Tilak Raj and on that day accused Amar Singh was arrested vide his personal search memo EX.PW 4/B and from his possession four positive Indian passport page no. 12,3,4 and 2 stickers having words 'Passport Authority of India' and one wooden frame which was having red colour 4 printing screen of Indian passport page no. 3 and 4 same were taken into possession vide memo EX.PW 3/A. This disclosure statement of accused Amar Singh was recorded and same is EX.PW 6/B. He further stated that on 23/9/88 ASI Amar Singh took a letter from US Embassy regarding fakeness of visa on the passport of one Kailash Chand. The said letter EX.PW 6/H was seized vide memo EX.PW 6/G. On 13/10/88 ASIAMar Singh took the sample seal of departure and arrival of IGI Airport vide sample seal mark A and the said samples seals were taken into possession vide memo EX.PW 5/A. He further stated on 13/12/88 ASI Amar Singh took a sample stamp of visa of US Embassy S1 into possession vide memo EX.PW 6/C. The case property was produced before the court. The five passports recovered from the accused Trilochan Singh are EX.P1 to EX.P5, air tickets recovered from accused Trilochan Singh EX.P8 to EX.P21, 4 pages recovered from accused Amar Singh EX.P23 (colly), the sticker recovered from accused Amar Singh is EX.P25. MHCM has produced one wooden frame and same is EX.P26.
15.In cross examination by counsel for accused he stated that accused Gyan Singh was arrested from his house situated at Mayur Vihar on 11/9/88 and accused Trilochan Singh was arrested at about 5.40pm. Accused Trilochan Singh was arrested from a thickly populated area. IO did not give any written notice to the persons who refused to join the investigation. He does not remember at what time the disclosure statement of accused was recorded. In cross examination he stated that the bag was of black colour in which the said articles were recovered from -11- accused Trilochan Singh and the said bag was taken into possession. He does not remember as to how many days accused Trilochan Singh was taken on PC. Accused Gyan Singh was arrested from Mayur Vihar at the instance of accused Amar Singh on 5/9/88 and accused Amar Singh produced the recovered articles from a shop belonging to himself situated at Govind Puri. He admitted in cross examination that the shop is situated in a commercial area . Many public persons gathered at the spot at the time of arrest of accused Amar Singh and the articles were recovered from accused Amar Singh from Govind Puri.
16.PW 2 Gurjeet Singh was recalled for cross examination on 4.3.08 as ordered by Ld. ASJ. In cross examination he stated that he cannot tell the exact date however it was 20 yrs ago and he cannot tell the name and address of the agents to whom he met regarding his travelling to abroad except one Tejinder Singh. He alongwith Baljinder Singh, Gurdayal Singh and Gurmeet Singh met with one Tejinder Singh. He stated that he alongwith Baljinder ,Gurdayal and Gurmeet had entrusted Rs. 20,000/- each to Tejinder Singh for arranging visa as well as for making arrangements for travelling abroad. They had handed over the passports to Tejinder Singh for making arrangements. He stated in cross examination that he met only once with Trilochan Singh as he was only sitting in the office of Tejinder Singh. He never made conversation with accused Trilochan Singh regarding making arrangements to go abroad and he never handed over any money to accused Trilochan Singh. There was no question of demanding money from accused Trilochan Singh as he was neither handed over the money nor they made conversation with him. He had told all the facts to the police that Tejinder Singh had cheated us and he was never cheated by accused Trilochan Singh. He had told the address of Tejinder Singh to the police. He went with the police to the office of Tejinder Singh, from there 3-4 passports were recovered and the visa was not arranged by the accused Trilochan Singh. He told in cross examination that he met with accused Trilochan Singh at first time when he was sitting in the office of Tejinder Singh and later on he saw the accused Trilochan Singh at the time of his examination in chief. He had identified the accused at the asking of police official who told him that his money can get recovered from the accused. This witness had -12- identified the accused before the court. He stated that he never met with the accused Trilochan Singh in the office of Nagia at Con.Place. His passport was never shown to him by the accused . (Vol.) He never had conversation with accused. He never demanded money back from the accused. (Vol.) He never handed over any money to the accused. He admitted that on 25/9/01 he deposed himself in the pressure of police official who told him that his money would be ordered to be returned from the accused by the court. This witness was declared hostile and was cross examined by Ld. APP for the State. In cross examination done by Ld. APP for the State he stated that his earlier examination in chief was not true. (Vol) the same was given in the pressure of police official. He denied the suggestion that he alongwith Baljinder, Gurdayal and Gurmeet handed over Rs. 20,000/- each to accused Trilochan Singh. He does not remember the exact statement which was given by him on 25/9/2000 before the court. He also denied the suggestion that accused Trilochan Singh told them that he will get arrange the visa within 4-5 days and they handed over their passports to accused Trilochan Singh. He further denied the suggestion that accused promised him that he would arrange the visa of Romania and Thailand in a short span of time or accused would arrange visa for America. The witness denied the suggestion that Rs. 68000/- were again handed over to accused Trilochan singh and when inquired from the accused Trilochan Singh for visa he told them that he had arranged the visa for Thailand and he further promised to accompany them to Thailand. He further denied the suggestion that they contacted accused that he had obtained forged visa and he had demanded back money from the accused but he refused to return the same and accused get arranged the forged visa on their passports.
17.Statement of IO SI Amar Singh was recorded regarding summons of PWs Gurdayal Singh, Baljinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh. He submitted that despite his best efforts the said persons could not be traced. All the said PWs have left India and they have settled in USA and there present whereabouts are not known.
18.No other witness was examined by prosecution and the prosecution evidence was closed and the matter was posted for statement of accused.
-13-19. All the accused were examined U/s 313 Cr.P.C. and all the incriminating evidence coming on record was put to the accused persons.
20.The accused persons submitted that they are innocent and have been falsely implicated in this case and denied for leading any defence evidence.
21. I have heard the Ld. APP and the counsel for accused and have perused the material on record. To prove its case prosecution has to prove that all the accused persons in furtherance of their common intention induced Gurdayal Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Gurjit Singh and Baljinder Singh to give Rs. 20,000/- each for obtaining visa on the each passport of the aforesaid persons and forged the American visas and the receipts of arrival and departure of IGI Airport for the purpose of cheating and used the American visas on the passports of the aforesaid persons as genuine knowing or having reason to believe the same to be forged documents.
22.In this case Gurdayal Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Gurjit Singh and Baljinder were the material witnesses . Summons issued to Gurdayal Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder were received back unserved . Summons were sent to these witnesses through IO but received back with the report that the aforesaid persons have settled abroad and their present whereabouts are not known. Statement of IO was recorded in this regard before the court on oath.
23.Other material witness Gurjit Singh appeared before the court as PW 2 and he supported the case of prosecution in his examination in chief . At that time, opportunity to cross examine the witness was given to accused persons but to no avail. On 23/7/05 an application u/s 311 Cr.PC was filed by the defence counsel but same was withdrawn by the counsel for accused persons on 1/9/06 on the ground that PW 2 has left India to America and his address is not available. On 10/7/07 another application us/ 311 Cr.Pc was moved by the defence counsel for recalling of PW 2 but same was dismissed by my Ld. Predecessor. On 3/3/08 Ld ASJ has allowed the revision regarding recalling of said PW 2.
24.On 4/3/08 PW 2 Gurjit Singh appeared before the court and he was cross examined by Ld. Defence counsel and in his cross examination he stated that he cannot tell the exact date however it was 20 yrs ago and he cannot tell the name and address -14- of the agents to whom he met regarding his travelling abroad except one Tejinder Singh. He alongwith Baljinder Singh, Gurdayal Singh and Gurmeet Singh met with one Tejinder Singh. He stated that he alongwith Baljinder ,Gurdayal and Gurmeet had entrusted Rs. 20,000/- each to Tejinder Singh for arranging visa as well as for making arrangement for travelling to abroad. They had handed over the passports to Tejinder Singh for making arrangements. He stated in cross examination that he met accused Trilochan Singh only once as he was only sitting in the office of Tejinder Singh. He deposed that he had no conversation with accused Trilochan Singh regarding making arrangements for going abroad and he never handed over any money to accused Trilochan Singh. He deposed that there was no question of demanding money from accused Trilochan Singh as he was neither handed over the money nor they made conversation with him. He had told all the facts to the police that Tejinder Singh had cheated them and he was never cheated by accused Trilochan Singh. He had told the address of Tejinder Singh to the police. He went with the police to the office of Tejinder Singh, from there 3-4 passports were recovered and the visa was not arranged by the accused Trilochan Singh. He told in cross examination that he met accused Trilochan Singh at first time when he was sitting in the office of Tejinder Singh and later on he saw the accused Trilochan Singh at the time of his examination in chief. This witness further deposed that earlier he had identified the accused at the asking of police officials who told him that his money can be recovered from the accused. This witness had identified the accused before the court. He stated that he never met accused Trilochan Singh in the office of Nagia at Con.Place. His passport was never shown to him by the accused . (Vol.) He never had any conversation with accused. He never demanded money back from the accused. (Vol.) He never handed over any money to the accused. He admitted that on 25/9/01 he deposed in the pressure of police official's who told him that his money would be ordered to be returned from the accused by the court. This witness was declared hostile and was cross examined by Ld. APP for the State. In cross examination done by Ld. APP for the State he stated that his earlier examination in chief was not true. (Vol) the same was given in the pressure of police officials. He denied the suggestion that he alongwith Baljinder, Gurdayal -15- and Gurmeet handed over Rs. 20,000/- each to accused Trilochan Singh. He deposed that he does not remember the exact statement which was given by him on 25/9/2000 before the court. He also denied the suggestion that accused Trilochan Singh told them that he will get arranged the visa within 4-5 days and they handed over their passports to accused Trilochan Singh. He further denied the suggestion that accused promised him that he would arrange the visa of Romania and Thailand in a short span of time and accused would arrange visa for America or Rs. 68000/- were again handed over to accused Trilochan singh and when inquired from the accused Trilochan Singh for visa he told them that he had arranged the visa for Thailand and he further promised to accompany them to Thailand. He further denied the suggestion that they contacted the accused as he had obtained forged visa and he had demanded back money from the accused but he refused to return the same and accused get arranged the forged visa on their passports.
25.The material witness Gurjit Singh did not support the case of prosecution and other material witnesses Gurdayal Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder did not appear before the court as their present whereabouts are not known.
26.There is nothing to suggest that accused persons have put fake visas on the passports of witnesses/ victims as no one had appeared before the court from US embassy to determine the genuineness of the visas on the aforesaid passports . No one had appeared before the court from Indian Immigration Deptt to determine the genuineuity of the stamps on the aforesaid passports. There is nothing on record that the visas on the passports of Gurdayal Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Gurjit Singh and Baljinder are fake. Even during the course of investigation, IO had not made efforts to identify the passports as well as visas from the witnesses so as to ascertain as to which visas are fake .
27.No investigation was carried out by IO regarding the verification of the passports of the victims.
28.No investigation was carried out by the IO for comparing of the genuine arrival as well as departure stamps affixed on the passports, from the said stamps recovered from the accused persons. No witness from the Immigration Deptt was brought by prosecution before the court.
-16-29.In the present case recovery witnesses stated that the recovery from accused Trilochan Singh had taken place in front of Mohan Singh Place and from accused Gyan Singh the recovery had taken place from his house situated at Trilok Puri and accused Amar Singh the recovery had taken place from Govind Puri. All the places are situated at thickly populated area and admittedly many public persons were present there and prosecution has failed to examine any public witness for proving the recovery from any of the accused.
30.The case property was never sealed after the recovery so tampering of the case property cannot be ruled out. Further the possibility of planting the recovery of accused persons also cannot be ruled out.
31.As per the prosecution as well as testimonies of the witnesses it is very much clear that the passports were recovered from the possession of accused Trilochan Singh from a bag . However the said bag was never produced before the court.
32.There were material contradictions in the testimonies of recovery witnesses. PW 1 stated before the court that he cannot tell the colour of the bag from which the passports were recovered from accused Trilochan Singh whereas PW 3 stated that he does not know whether the bag was seized or not and PW 6 stated that the bag was of raxin and it was red and white in colour. Whereas other recovery witness PW 8 stated that it was of black colour.
33.PW 3 stated that all the proceedings regarding accused Trilochan were conducted while sitting on the chairs while PW 6 stated that all the proceedings were conducted while sitting on the benches belonging to hotel. PW 4 ASI Tilak Raj stated before the court regarding time of arrest of accused Gyan Singh as 3.50pm whereas PW 6 stated that accused Gyan singh was arrested at 5.30pm. There are other contradictions in the testimonies of recovery witnesses.
34.PW 3 Inspector Sube Singh appeared before the court and stated that he does not remember who was the driver on the Govt. Vehicle in which they went where the accused Trilochan Singh was arrested and he further stated that he does not remember the name of the place which were visited by them on that day and he further stated that the market was open at that time and the said witness stated in cross examination that he does not know the details of the passport and he does not -17- know the name of the persons in whose names the tickets were issued and he further stated he does not remember who was sent with rukka. In view of his statement it is doubtful whether the said witness had joined the investigation or not as he failed to give the satisfactory reply of the questions which were put by the defence counsel.
35.ASI Tilak Raj appeared before the court as PW 4 and he stated in cross examination that he does not remember who met them in the house of accused Gyan Singh and he further stated that he does not remember who had opened the door and he could not tell the house numbers situated just near the house of accused Gyan Singh and the said witness stated that at what time they had reached the house of accused Gyan Singh and he could not tell the registration number of the vehicle in which they went. The said witness could not tell the number of the rooms in the house of accused Gyan Singh. The said witness also could not tell the time when accused Amar Singh was arrested and also could not tell the name and style of the shop from where the recovery had taken place from accused Amar Singh. The said witness also could not tell the name and style of the shops which were situated just near the shop of accused Amar Singh. The said witness could not tell the direction in which the said shop was situated. It creates doubt whether the said witness was present at the time of recovery or not.
36.PW 8 HC Ram Kishan stated before the court that accused Amar Singh was arrested from Mohan Singh Palace whereas the other recovery witnesses stated that accused Amar Singh was arrested from Govind puri .
37.The departure and arrival of the police officials to the police station have not been proved by the prosecution to lend credence to the version of the prosecution.
38.Admittedly several public persons were present at the time of apprehension of accused and at the time of alleged recovery and while completing the formalities admittedly several shops were situated at place from where accused Trilochan Singh and Amar Singh were arrested and many other houses were situated near the place from where accused Gyan Singh was arrested. But occupants from any of the said houses and shops were not even requested to join as witness. This casts doubt about sincere efforts made by the IO to join independent witnesses. In Roop -18- Chand Vs State of Haryana 1990(1) CLR 69 it was observed that such explanations that the public persons refused to join the proceedings are unreliable and in Pradeep Narayan Vs State of Maharashtra AIR 1995 S.C1930 it was held that failure of police to join witness from locality during search creates doubt about fairness of investigation benefit of which has to go to the accused.
39. In view of the above said discussion, it is clear that the prosecution has totally failed to prove the guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly, I acquit the accused persons for the offences u/s 420/468/471 IPC r/w 34 IPC. Their bail bonds are cancelled. Sureties are discharged. Documents, if any be returned as per rules. File be consigned to record room.
ANNOUNCED IN THE OPEN COURT TODAY ON 7/8/2008 (SUDESH KUMAR) METROPOLITAN MAGISTRATE NEW DELHI -19- STATE Vs. TRILOCHAN SINGH & ORS FIR No. 367/88 PS Con. Place 7/8/08 Present: Ld. APP for the State.
All accused with counsels Sh. Rohit Kumar Yadav and Akhilesh Bansal.
Vide my separate judgment, accused persons are acquitted. Their bail bonds are cancelled and sureties are discharged. Documents, if any be returned as per rules. File be consigned to Record Room.
(SUDESH KUMAR) MM:ND:7/8/08