Delhi District Court
State vs . 1. Sunny Singh Kunwar on 21 February, 2014
IN THE COURT OF SH RAJENDER KUMAR SHASTRI
ADDL. SESSIONS JUDGE02:SOUTH EAST
SAKET COURT: NEW DELHI
IN RE: ID No. 02406R0044032012
SC No. 09/12
FIR No. 408/11
PS Okhla Industrial Area
State Vs. 1. Sunny Singh Kunwar
S/o Sh. Ram Singh Kunwar
R/o H. No. 3912, Gali No. 6,
Ajit Nagar, Gandhi Nagar
Delhi.
2. Madan Tomar
S/o Sh. Veer Singh Tomar
R/o H. No. 3912, Gali No. 6,
Ajit Nagar, Gandhi Nagar
Delhi.
__________________________________________________________
Date of Institution : 12.03.2012
Date of arguments : 05.02.2014
Date of judgment : 21.02.2014
JUDGMENT
As per case of prosecution, on 15.12.2011 at about 11.00 am, ASI Vinod Kumar was present in police post Okhla Industrial Estate. One secret informer came to him and told that a person who was selling fake currency notes of Rs.10,000/ in lieu of genuine currency of SC No. 09/12 1 of 15 Rs.1,500/ will come at Govindpuri Metro Station from Kalkaji Mandir side between 1212.30 pm. ASI Vinod Kumar confided with SHO PS Okhla Industrial Area as well as Assistant Police Commissioner concerned. Information was recorded as DD No. 12. On the instruction of higher police officers, a raiding party was formed by ASI Vinod Kumar comprising himself, HC Pradeep Kumar, Ct. Pawan Kumar and Ct. Rohit Kumar. HC Pradeep Kumar and Ct. Pawan Kumar were asked to remain in mufti (civil uniforms). After making entry about their departure through DD no. 14, members of raiding party left for pointed place i.e. Metro Station Govindpuri. IO requested 810 passerby persons to join raid but none agreed. HC Pradeep Kumar was made decoy customer while Ct. Pawan Kumar was asked to act a shadow witness. IO took personal search of decoy customer HC Pradeep Kumar. Nothing was left with him. He i.e. decoy customer was given three currency notes of Rs.500/ each bearing no. JHD958912, JBA956088 and 8GD115468. IO made initial signatures on left side corner of each of these currency notes. The decoy customer was directed to deal with said person and after the deal was struck, he had to point out towards other members of raiding party, by putting his right hand over his head. The shadow witness was to overhear talk between the decoy customer and the suspect. He was also instructed to inform other members in the same way, as mentioned above.
SC No. 09/12 2 of 15 At about 12.30 pm, one person was seen coming towards Govindpuri Metro Station from Kalkaji Mandir side. Secret informer hinted towards him, saying as the same person who was selling fake currency. HC Pradeep and Ct. Pawan went towards him. A deal was struck. On the pointing of decoy customer and shadow witness, said person was apprehended and who was known as Sunny Singh i.e. accused.
The decoy customer handed over one packet of currency notes of Rs.10,000/ i.e. 100 notes of Rs.100/ each stated to have been purchased by him from the accused Sunny Singh. On being checked it was found that there was no water mark on these notes and from the prints, same appeared counterfeit. Rs.1,500/ which were handed over by decoy customer were also recovered from right side pocket of pant of accused Sunny Singh. The packet of fake currency was kept in a transparent plastic jar container and cash Rs.1500/ (three notes of Rs. 500/ each) was kept in an envelope. Both were sealed by seal of VK. Accused was arrested.
On being interrogated, accused Sunny Singh Kunwar gave disclosure statement implicating coaccused Madan Tomar. He i.e. Sunny Singh led police team to house no. 3912, Gali No. 6, Ajit Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Delhi. Landlord Praveen Kumar was joined by the police in further investigation. Accused Madan Tomar was found present at SC No. 09/12 3 of 15 said house and at his instance, 29 bundles of 100 notes of Rs.100/ each were recovered from that house. Similarly, nine packets of 100 notes of Rs.50/ were recovered from said house, at the instance of accused Sunny Singh. Nine bundles mentioned above were marked as A1 to A9 and 29 bundles described above were marked as B1 to B29. On being checked, there was no security thread and water mark on these notes. Same appeared apparently counterfeit. Police seized one monitor, CPU, mouse, printer and some papers from that house and arrested accused Madan Tomar.
On an endorsement made by IO, FIR in this case was registered. During investigation, notes recovered from / at the instance of accused were sent to FSL. IO collected report of scientific expert, on the basis of which police indicted accused for offence punishable under Section 489B/489C/489D IPC.
Both of accused were charged by order of this court dated 26.03.2012 for offences punishable under Section 489C/34 and 489D IPC. Accused Sunny Singh was also charged for offence punishable under Section 489B IPC. Both of them pleaded not guilty and claimed trial when charge was read over and explained to them.
In order to substantiate its case, prosecution examined Parveen Kumar as PW1, ASI Jawahar Singh as PW2, HC Pradeep Kumar as PW3, ASI Vinod Kumar as PW4, HC Virender Singh as SC No. 09/12 4 of 15 PW5, Ct. Rohit as PW6, Insp. Pradeep Kumar as PW7, Ct. Pawan Kumar as PW8, SI Sanjay Bhatt as PW9 and Dr. Narayan Waghmara as PW10.
The accused persons in their statements recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C. when evidence on record was put to them denied the same as wrong. As per them, it was a false case and they were innocent. Accused Madan Tomar examined his wife Smt. Rajni as DW1 and accused Sunny Singh examined one Nikhil Luthra as DW2.
I have heard Ld. Addl. PP for State and Ld. Counsel representing the accused.
ASI Vinod Kumar (PW4) reiterated entire story as discussed above, when examined in the court. HC Pradeep Kumar, who was examined as PW3 disclosed before the court that he was made decoy customer. He as well as Ct. Pawan Kumar were in civil uniform. He was asked by IO ASI Vinod Kumar to purchase fake currency notes out of Rs.1,500/ given to him by the IO. At about 12.30 pm, one boy aged about 22 years came on foot from Kalkaji Mandir side. Informer pointed towards him, as the person, who was selling fake currency. He went to that boy and talked to purchase fake currency. Said boy is accused Sunny Singh. He (PW3) bargained with accused. The latter agreed to give him notes of Rs.10,000/ (fake) in lieu of Rs.1500/ (genuine). He handed over Rs.1,500/ to accused Sunny Singh which SC No. 09/12 5 of 15 were given to him by the IO and accused Sunny Singh gave him fake currency notes of Rs.10,000/, all of which were of 100 denomination each. As he was directed by the IO, he pointed out towards him by putting his right hand over his head. Other members of raiding party came there and overpowered accused Sunny Singh. He handed over fake currency notes of Rs.10,000/ to the IO which were seized by him by keeping in a pulanda and sealed by seal of VK. IO also seized Rs.1,500/ after taking the same from the accused.
On being interrogated by IO, accused Sunny Singh gave disclosure statement. He led them i.e. police team to the house of co accused Madan Tomar situated at Gandhi Nagar, Delhi. Accused Madan Tomar was found present there. One computer, monitor, UPS, keyboard and some documents including currency notes (fake) of Rs.100/ and 50/ each total amounting Rs.3,35,000/ were recovered at the instance of accused Madan Tomar from his house. IO seized all this. One polythene bag and one bag of black colour made of material like raxin were also seized from there. These were found containing fake currency notes. On being interrogated, accused Madan Tomar also gave a disclosure statement.
All this is corroborated from the statement of Ct. Pawan Kumar (PW8), who was shadow witness in aforesaid incident and Ct. Rohit (PW6), who was also a member of raiding party and eyewitness SC No. 09/12 6 of 15 of recovery. Insp. Pradeep Kumar (PW7) was SHO PS OIA on 15.12.2011, as per this witness, ASI Vinod Kumar informed him on that day about a secret information received by the latter about a person who was selling fake currency notes. The information was recorded as DD
12. Parveen Kumar (PW1) was owner / landlord of H. No. 3912. It is deposed by this witness that accused Sunny Singh was his tenant in H. No. 3912. He also knew accused Madan Tomar. The latter also remained their tenant but vacated the same one day before the incident. As per this witness, police seized computer, UPS, Monitor etc. from the room of accused Sunny Singh situated on second floor of the building. Accused Madan Tomar was present there when Sunny Singh was brought by police in that house. Some fake currency notes of Rs. 100/ and Rs.50/ were recovered in a polythene bag from that room. Police seized the same vide seizure memo Ex.PW1/D and Ex.PW1/E. Computer and CPU etc. were seized vide seizure memo Ex.PW1/F, Ex.PW1/G, Ex.PW1/H and Ex.PW1/I. PW1 further told about some blank white papers having recovered from that room and seized by the police. As per him, the fake currency notes recovered by police from that room were 2025 packets of Rs.100/ and 89 packets of Rs.50/ each. After seeing the case property, PW1 identified the same as was seized by police from the room of accused.
SC No. 09/12 7 of 15 SI Sanjay Bhatt (PW9) was another IO of the case. As per him, investigation of this case was marked to him on 15.12.2011. He went to Govindpuri Metro Station. ASI Vinod Kumar along with HC Parveen met him there. Accused Sunny Singh was in their custody. He interrogated said accused, who gave disclosure statement. He seized one plastic container containing 100 currency notes of Rs.100/ each and one envelope containing three currency notes of Rs.500/ each (Rs.1500/), on being handed over by ASI Vinod Kumar. The container and envelope were sealed by seal of VK.
This witness further told about accused Sunny Singh having led them to H. No. 3612, Gali No. 6, Ajeet Nagar, Gandhi Nagar. Landlord Praveen Kumar met them there. Accused Madan Tomar was found in a room of that house. They went inside. Accused Sunny Singh brought out one polythene bag of yellow colour containing currency notes of Rs.50/ each. He interrogated accused Madan Tomar. The latter produced one bag of black colour, which was lying in a corner of that room. On being checked, 29 packets of Rs.100/ each were found in that bag. He seized all those packets of notes. Same were kept in different pulandas and sealed by seal of SB. Similarly, 29 packets of currency notes (all fake) recovered at the instance of accused Madan Tomar were kept in different pulandas and sealed by seal of SB. He also seized CPU make Intex, one monitor make HP, printer make HP, keyboard (beetal SC No. 09/12 8 of 15 touch), mouse (technotec) and one polythene bag containing white sheets 46 in number. Keyboard and mouse were kept in one packet. All pulandas were sealed by seal of SB. Case property was deposited in maalkhana.
HC Virender Singh (PW5) was MHC(M) in PS OIA on 06.01.2012 and told about HC Pradeep having come to him and took away nine pulandas from maalkhana to FSL Rohini vide RC No. 7/21/12. HC Pradeep gave him a receipt in that regard. ASI Jawahar Singh (PW2) was Duty Officer in PS OIA on 15.12.2011 and verified registration of FIR in this case on the basis of rukka sent by ASI Vinod Kumar. Copy of FIR is Ex.PW2/A. Dr. Narayan Waghmara (PW10) was an Assistant Director, Incharge Computer Branch, FSL Rohini. As per him, on 09.02.2012, one cloth parcel sealed by seal of SB was received in his office. It was marked to him i.e. PW10 for examination. On being opened, one hard disk of 80GB was found inside it. It was marked as Q1. On being checked, he found one scanned image of Indian currency note in it. He prepared his report which is Ex.PW10/A. Smt. Rajni (DW1) is wife of accused Madan Tomar. As per this witness, on a day about two years before her deposition, which was recorded on 30.01.2014, two police persons came to their house and they took away her husband i.e. accused Madan Tomar saying that they SC No. 09/12 9 of 15 had to interrogate him. When she went to police station, she came to know that her husband was arrested in this case. As per Nikhil Luthra (DW2), accused Sunny Singh was working in a restaurant situated in a gali near Satyanarayan Mandir, Gandhi Nagar, Delhi and he i.e. DW2 also worked there for about 56 years. About two years back, when he visited said restaurant, he did not find accused Sunny Singh. On being enquired, he came to know that he i.e. accused Sunny Singh was arrested by police in this case. Needless to say that DW2 was examined in court on 30.01.2014.
It is contended by Ld. Defence counsel that it was a false case. All the witnesses are interested witnesses being police officers. The IO did not join any independent witness, despite having opportunity to join the same.
Trite it to say that accused Sunny Singh is blamed to have sold fake currency to a decoy customer, (HC Pradeep Kumar) having come there near Metro Station, Govindpuri. As per Ld. Defence counsel, Ct. Rohit (PW6) stated to be an eyewitness, disclosed in his crossexamination that IO did not ask staff of Metro Station to join investigation. Similarly, the room of accused Madan Tomar from where fake currency notes are alleged to have been recovered, is situated in a residential colony. It is admitted by HC Pradeep Kumar (decoy customer), who was examined as PW3 that said house is situated in a SC No. 09/12 10 of 15 residential colony, which is generally crowded. No explanation at all is given by the prosecution as why none from neighbours of that house or resident of that colony was joined at the time when fake currency notes were recovered from that room.
It is further the plea of Ld. Defence counsel that according to Ct. Pawan Kumar (PW8), the bag which was recovered from the room of accused containing fake currency notes was made of rexin. When the bag of case property was produced in court, same was made of cloth. As per her, the bag was changed.
The bag of case property was also shown to IO SI Sanjay Bhatt (PW9). It was admitted by him that the bag of case property was made of material like cloth as well as rexin. In such a circumstance, I do not find it a material contradiction that one witness told said bag as made of rexin.
So far as joining of public witnesses concerned, true the place where the accused Sunny Singh is stated to have sold fake currency to decoy customer is near Metro Station, which can be presumed to be a generally crowded area. Similarly, the room of accused Madan Tomar from where fake currency is stated to have been recovered is also situated in a residential colony. Though according to IO, he requested some neighbours residing on ground floor of the building but he did not mention their names or addresses. In this way, in SC No. 09/12 11 of 15 my opinion, police had opportunity to join independent witnesses. At the same time, it is a hard reality that public persons did not prefer to be witnesses of any incident, in which they are not much interested. It cannot be expected from the police that same proceed against the persons, who refused to participate in the investigation leaving investigation of main case to be sidetracked. All the witnesses examined by prosecution fully supported the case of prosecution, as discussed above. It is well settled that police witnesses are equally reliable. It was held by the Apex Court in a case titled as Hazari Lal Vs. State (Delhi Administration) AIR 1983 SC 873 that evidence of a police officer laying trap if found reliable, can be accepted without corroboration. In case Aher Raja Khima Vs. State of Saurashtra AIR 1956 SC 217, the Supreme Court held that the presumption that a person acts honestly applies as much in favour of police officer as of other persons, and it is not a judicial approach to distrust and suspect him without good grounds therefore. Such an attitude could do neither credit to the Magistrates nor good to the public. It only runs down the prestige of the police administration. Realising the difficulty in involving public witnesses in a crime particularly in heinous offences, it was held in a case titled as Chandra Shekar vs. State 1986 (2) Crimes 419 that in capital offences in highly urbanized areas, where it is becoming difficult to involve public witnesses and eyewitnesses it will be dangerous not to SC No. 09/12 12 of 15 rely on relation witnesses and police witnesses, provided such witnesses are confirmed to be truthful, considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of each case.
It is not plea of Ld. Defence counsel even that police officials examined in this case had any grudge against the accused persons.
The fact that fake currency was sold to the decoy customer and also that other similar fake currency along with instruments of printing i.e. computer, monitor, printer etc. recovered from the possession / at the instance of accused is well proved from the statement of ASI Vinod Kumar (PW4), HC Pradeep Kumar (PW3), who acted as decoy customer and Ct. Pawan Kumar (PW8), who remained as shadow witness and saw accused Sunny Singh selling fake currency notes of Rs.10,000/ in lieu of genuine currency of Rs.1,500/. Again, accused Sunny Singh led police team to the house of coaccused Madan Tomar situated at Gandhi Nagar, Delhi from where one computer, monitor, UPS, keyboard, fake currency notes total amounting Rs.3,35,000/ were recovered at the instance of accused Madan Tomar and kept in a polythene bag. Praveen Kumar (PW1) is landlord of said house, who also verified recovery of aforesaid instruments i.e. UPS, Monitor etc. from the room of accused persons and also fake currency notes i.e. at the instance of accused Madan Tomar, 29 bundles of 100 SC No. 09/12 13 of 15 notes of Rs.100/ denomination were recovered from that house. Similarly, nine packets of 100 notes of Rs.50/ at the instance of Sunny Singh were recovered.
From the statements of same witnesses, it is well established that nine packets recovered at the instance of accused Sunny Singh were marked as A1 to A9 and 29 bundles recovered at the instance of accused Madan Tomar were marked as B1 to B29. Same were deposited in maalkhana along with other cases property. HC Virender Singh (PW5) was MHC(M) in PS OIA and as per him, on 06.01.2012, HC Pradeep took away said nine pulandas from maalkhana to FSL Rohini vide RC no. 7/21/12. According to Dr. Narayan Waghmara (PW10), one cloth parcel sealed by seal of SB was received in his office on 09.02.2012. Same was marked to him. On being opened, one hard disk was found inside it. It was marked as Q1 and on being checked, one scanned image of Indian currency was found in it. As per Ct. Rohit (PW6), an eyewitness of recovery, HC Pradeep handed over to IO one packet of 100 notes of Rs.100/ each stated to have been purchased by him from accused Sunny Singh in lieu of Rs.1500/. All of said notes were fake. Number SDP0962653 was printed on upper side of note while SDP96077 was printed on its reverse side. The notes appeared fake by appearance, all of which were of same series. Similarly, after reaching at H. No. 3912, Gali no. 6, Ajeet Nagar, Gandhi SC No. 09/12 14 of 15 Nagar, accused Sunny Singh produced one polythene bag of yellow colour. Nine packets of Rs.50/ each (all fake) were in that bag. Accused Madan Tomar produced one black colour bag made of material like rexin. 29 packets of Rs.100/ having face value of Rs.100/ were recovered from that bag. All were fake notes.
Even Ld. Defence counsel did not dispute that notes of case property were not counterfeit.
On the basis of above discussion, in my opinion, it is well proved on the file that accused Sunny Singh sold fake currency to decoy customer i.e. of Rs.10,000/ in lieu of genuine currency of Rs. 1,500/ and similarly, fake currency notes were recovered at the instance of both of accused from H. No. 3912, Gali No. 6, Ajeet Nagar along with instruments of forging / printing of fake currency notes i.e. computer, monitor, printer, mouse, keyboard etc. and from the statement of Dr. Narayan Waghmara (PW10), it is well settled that hard disk found in that computer was being used to scan Indian currency notes.
Both of accused are thus convicted for offence punishable under Section 489C/34 IPC and Section 489D IPC. Accused Sunny Singh is also convicted for offence punishable under Section 489B IPC.
Announced in open court (RAJENDER KUMAR SHASTRI)
today i.e. 21st February 2014 Addl. Sessions Judge02:South East
Saket Court: New Delhi
SC No. 09/12 15 of 15