Delhi District Court
State vs Abrar on 8 May, 2018
-1-
IN THE COURT OF SH. SANJEEV AGGARWAL
ADDL. SESSIONS JUDGE02, NORTH
ROHINI COURTS, DELHI
STATE CASE No...................................57786/16
FIR No. 190/12
PS Crime Branch
U/s: 120B/489B/489C IPC
State
Versus
1.Abrar S/o. Late Fakiri Mohammad R/o. Near Pal Hotel, Pooja Colony Loni, U.P.
2. Firoz Saifi S/o. Riazuddin R/o. Near Pal Hotel, Pooja Colony Loni, U. P.
3. Farukh S/o. Late Abdul Aziz R/o. Fatehullah Sarai, PS Nakhasa Sambhal, U. P. Date of institution : 09.11.2012 Judgment reserved on : 04.05.2018 Judgment delivered on: 08.05.2018 ORDER/JUDGMENT: Accused persons namely Abrar, Firoz Saifi and Farukh stand acquitted of the charge(s) u/s 120B IPC & u/S. 489C r/w Section 120B IPC.
Further, accused Abrar and Firoz Saifi also stand acquitted of the charge(s) u/S. 489B r/w. Section 120B IPC.
SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 1 of 26 -2- J U D G M E N T
1. Brief facts, as stated in the charge sheet are That on 16.07.2012 at about 3:30 pm an information was received by SI Anuj Nautiyal that two persons who are involved in the trading of fake Indian currency notes would come on a motorcycle on the road coming from Mukarba Chowk towards Alipur at around 5:30 pm and who were having a large quantity of fake currency notes to say they would take Rs. 50,000/ in place of Rs. 1 Lakh and if raided, they could be apprehended with the said fake currency notes. If the dealing is done with them in the name of a person namely Chintan, then they could be apprehended with a large quantity of fake currency notes.
The said information was disclosed to Inspector Bhagwati Prasad, who immediately conveyed the same to ACP/ST. Thereafter, a raiding party was formed including SI Anuj Nautiyal, HC Lakhvinder, Ct. Rajesh, Ct. Kavinder and the secret informer. They left the said place in a private Alto car vide DD No. 16. At around 4:00 pm, they reached near Haiderpur Nehar, Outer Ring Road, where the IO SI Anuj Nautiyal requested SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 2 of 26 -3- four public persons to join the raiding party, however, all of them refused and left the place after disclosing their genuine problems.
SI Anuj Nautiyal gave four numbari notes bearing no. 6NW 836641, 42, 43, 44 to HC Lakhvinder after searching him and directed him that he would met the above persons of the syndicate as a decoy customer by giving them the identity of Chintan and would make deal of purchasing Rs. 20,000/ currency notes from them and on completion of the deal, he would make a signal to them by keeping his hand on his head.
At around 5:00 PM the secret informer reached at Mukarba Chowk Alipur Road, where after 15 minutes he informed that the said person, who had come for dealing in fake currency notes, was sitting on motorcycle of red colour bearing no. DL7SS3998 around 200 meters of left side of the road towards Alipur side. Accordingly, HC Lakhvinder was sent to the said person and rest of the staff waited at a distance of around 100 meters. HC Lakhvinder went to the said person, sitting on the motorcycle and talked to him, who thereafter went to some other person and after five minutes came back and again talked with HC SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 3 of 26 -4- Lakhvinder. After 23 minutes HC Lakhvinder gave the signal, upon which the IO came there and apprehended the said person. Meanwhile, Ct. Kavinder and Rajesh apprehended the other person and brought him there. On inquiry, the person who was sitting on the motorcycle disclosed his name as Firoz and the other person told his name as Abrar. HC Lakhvinder gave a bundle of Rs. 500/ currency notes to the IO and told him that it was containing Rs. 20,000/ which were given by Firoz to him in place of token money of Rs. 2,000/ after bringing the same from his other companion and remaining Rs. 8,000/ were yet to be given to Firoz. On checking, the said currency notes, the same appeared to be fake, Firoz also disclosed the same. The said currency notes were put into a transparent jar and taken into possession and were given Mark1.
From the search of accused Firoz, from the right pocket of his pant, a bundle of Rs. 500/ currency notes was recovered which were total 160 in numbers and Firoz stated the same to be fake notes. The said notes were also kept in a transparent jar and taken into possession and were given Mark 2.
SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 4 of 26 -5- From search of accused Abrar, from left side pocket of his pant the said four currency notes of Rs. 500/ were recovered which were given to him by the decoy customer. The said currency notes were also kept in an envelop and after sealing the same with the seal of AN were taken into possession and were given Mark 3. From further search of accused Abrar, from right pocket of his pant a bundle of Rs. 500/ fake currency notes were recovered, which were total 180 in numbers. The same were put in a transparent jar and took into possession and was given Mark 4.
2. Thereafter, SI Anuj Nautiyal prepared a rukka and got the present FIR registered through Ct. Rajesh u/s 489B/489C/34 IPC.
3. Thereafter, the further investigations were handed over to SI Praveen Kumar, who reached at the spot. Both the accused persons were arrested and were interrogated with regard to origin of fake Indian currency notes. The disclosed that the said currency notes were given to them by one Farukh, a resident of Sambhai, Muradabad, UP who was a notorious supplier of fake Indian Currency. Their four days PC remand was obtained from the Court.
On 18.07.2012, after laying a trap near roadside Nooria Sarai, SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 5 of 26 -6- Sambhal, U.P. accused Farukh was also arrested in the present case. On serach, he was also found in possession of counterfeit Indian currency notes amounting to Rs. Eight thousand and five hundred of the denomination of Rs. Five hundred. He disclosed that he had earlier obtained Rs. Five lakhs fake Indian currency notes from his associate Basheer, a resident of West Bengal.
The accused Farukh was also taken on PC remand and efforts were made to arrest the accused Bashir. As per telephonic conversation of accused Farukh with accused Bashir, they were to meet on 25.07.2012 in Muradabad. A trap was laid near Muradabad Railway Station. The said accused Bashir came there and was arrested in the present case. On search of the said accused, fake Indian currency notes amounting to Rs. Four Lakhs in the denomination of Rs. 500/ were recovered. He disclosed that the said fake currency notes were delivered to him as well as to Farukh by one Ajibul of Malda, West Bengal, but despite efforts, neither the accused Ajibul could be traced nor his complete address could be known. The recovered counterfeit Indian currency notes were sent to Currency Note Press, Nashik Road, Maharashtra for expert opinion and it was opined vide report no. 420/12/2/36 dated 21.09.2012 that the said notes were counterfeit notes.
After completion of investigations, a charge sheet was filed u/S. 489B/489C/120B/34 IPC against all the accused persons namely Abrar, Firoz Saifi, Farukh and Bashir @ Bishu.
SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 6 of 26 -7-
4. On committal of the case to the Court of Sessions, vide separate detailed order on charge dated 15.02.2013, prima facie charge(s) u/s 120B IPC was ordered to be framed against all the accused persons; charge(s) u/S. 489B r/w Section 120B IPC was ordered to be framed against accused Abrar and Firoz Saifi and charge(s) u/S. 489C r/W Section 120B IPC was ordered to be framed against all the accused persons. Accordingly, formal charge(s) were framed against the accused persons, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
5. During the trial, the accused Bashir @ Bishu absconded and he was declared proclaimed offender vide order dated 07.02.2018.
6. The prosecution in support of its case has examined 7 witnesses:
a) PW1 is Ct. Kavinder Pal, one of the member of the raiding party, who had joined the investigations along with initial IO SI Anuj Nautiyal and deposed about the proceedings conducted at the spot in his presence.
b) PW2 is SI Anuj Nautiyal, 1st IO in this case, who had visited the spot along with the raiding party and has deposed about the investigations as were carried out by him at the spot.
c) PW3 is HC Adal Singh, Duty Officer, PS Crime Branch, who has proved the copy of FIR as Ex. PW3/A and the endorsement made by him on the rukka as Ex. PW3/B. SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 7 of 26 -8-
d) PW4 is Deepak Ashok Padwal, Asst. Manager (Technical), Currency Note Press, Nasik, Maharashtra, who has proved his detailed examination reports qua the fake currency notes in this case as Ex. PW4/A and Ex. PW4/B.
e) PW5 is HC Lakhwinder, one of the member of the raiding party, who was deputed as decoy customer by the IO to deal with the accused persons, Firoz and Abrar. He joined the investigations along with IO in this case and has deposed about the same in the court.
f) PW6 is SI Praveen Kumar, 2nd IO to whom further investigations were handed over after registration of the FIR.
He has deposed about the investigations as were carried out by him in this case.
g) PW7 is ASI Jag Narayan, MHC(M), PS Crime Branch, who had made relevant entries in the Register no. 19 regarding deposit of case properties in this case in the Malkhana as Ex. PW7/A to Ex. PW7/F and sending the same in sealed condition to Currency Note Press, Nasik Road, Maharashtra.
7. Statement of all the accused persons u/S 313 Cr.P.C. were recorded separately, in which the entire incriminating evidence appearing against them was put to them, in which the defence of all the accused persons was that they had been falsely implicated in this case.
SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 8 of 26 -9- They also stated that the entire evidence appearing against them was incorrect. However, they chose not to lead evidence in their defence.
8. I have heard Sh. Sanjay Kumar, Ld. Counsel for all the accused persons and Sh. V. K. Negi. Ld. Addl. PP for the State.
9. Ld. Addl. PP for the State has argued that from the testimonies of recovery witnesses i.e. PW1 Ct. Kavinder Pal, PW2 SI Anuj Nautiyal and PW5 HC Lakhwinder, the prosecution has been able to prove that initially accused Firoz and Abrar were arrested with the fake currency notes and thereafter on the disclosure statement of the said accused persons, accused Farukh was arrested from whose possession, some more counterfeit currency notes were recovered from Sambal, U.P. and thereafter pursuant to the disclosure statement of the said accused, accused Bashir was also arrested from whom huge amount of fake currency notes were recovered. He has argued that the testimonies of above prosecution witnesses are cogent, trustworthy and there are no material contradictions in the same and the same is duly corroborated by the recovery of huge amount of fake currency notes from their possession or at the instance of the above accused persons, which is also corroborated by the report of the Government of India Currency Notes Press, Nasik Road, Maharashtra Ex. PW4/A that all the said currency notes recovered from possession of the accused persons were counterfeit, which has also been proved by PW4 Sh. Deepak SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 9 of 26 -10- Ashok Padwal, whose testimony clearly corroborates the testimony of the above recovery witnesses. He further submits that the testimony of recovery witnesses is further corroborated by the testimony of PW6 SI Praveen Kumar, the IO of this case.
10. On the other hand, Ld. Defence Counsel has argued that the entire prosecution case is false and the said currency notes have been planted upon the accused persons. The prosecution story is not believable, due to number of reasons, as no public witness has been joined in any of the recovery proceedings. He further argued that neither any DD entry regarding the departure and return from Sambal, U.P. has been produced on the record, nor any DD entry has been produced on the record regarding arrest of accused Bashir from Muradabad nor the local police had been intimated as per the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses themselves. He further argued that there is no electronic or scientific evidence that the accused persons were involved in the commission of the present offence, for which they have been charged. He has further argued that if the accused persons would have dealt with the said currency notes, their finger prints would have also come on the same. In these overall facts and circumstances, there is no reason to believe the prosecution story and the accused persons are liable to be acquitted.
11. I have gone through the rival contentions.
SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 10 of 26 -11- PW2 SI Anuj Nautiyal in his testimonial deposition in his examinationinchief in the court has deposed as under:
On 16.07.12 I was posted in Special Team, Crime Branch and was present at my office at Prashant Vihar. At about 3.30 p.m. one secret informer came to me and informed me that two persons involved in the circulation/trade of fake Indian currency notes will come at Mukarba Chowk goes towards Alipur side at about 5.30 p.m. on motorcycle and he also informed me that those two accused persons will reach there with Indian fake currency notes in large quantity and will exchange Rs. 1 Lacs of fake Indian currency notes with Rs.50,000/ of genuine Indian currency notes and if a raid is conducted, they can be apprehended. He also told that if a reference of one person namely Chintan is given to them, they can be held while dealing in fake currency notes, they can be apprehended at that time. I told this fact to Inspector Bhagwati Prasad of our team who brought this fact into the knowledge of ACP - ST. ACP - ST gave directions to take necessary action in this regard without any delay. Thereafter, a raiding party was formed under my supervision consisting of HC Lakhvinder, Ct. Rajesh and Ct. Kavinder. I briefed them about the contents of the information received by me through informer. Thereafter, a DD entry was lodged by me in this regard vide DD No. 16 in the daily diary at our office and thereafter, we along with informer left our office in a private Alto car and reached near Haider Pur Canal, Outer Ring Road at about 4.00 p.m. I asked four passersby to join the raiding party after disclosing them the contents of secret information received by me. But none agreed to join stating that they are in hurry and left the place without disclosing their names and addresses. Due to shortage of time, no legal action could be taken against them. I handed over four genuine Indian currency notes in the denomination of Rs.500/ each to Ct. Lakhvinder. I also took his personal search but nothing incriminating was found in his possession and I directed HC Lakhvinder to hold a deal with those persons after giving reference of one person namely Chintan with exchange of fake currency notes of Rs.20,000/ and I also advised him to give signal to me and other raiding party members after finalization SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 11 of 26 -12- of deal. I prepared the handing over memo of the four currency notes mentioned above to HC Lakhvinder and my said memo is Ex.PW2/A which bears my signature at point A. I mentioned the numbers of currency notes given to HC Lakhvinder in my seizure memo. Thereafter, we left that spot i.e. mentioned above and reached at Mukarba Chowk at about 5.00 p.m. and parked our car on the Mukaraba Chowk by pass on road goes towards Alipur side. I advised the informer to identify those two persons as and when they reached there.
Secret informer got down from the car and took position on the road. After about 15 minutes, the informer told us that one motorcycle bearing no. DL 7S 3998 of red colour is parked at the distance of 200 meters from the place where we had parked our vehicle and he told that one person is sitting onthe seat of motorcycle and told that the said person is the same who used to deal in fake Indian currency notes. I relieved the informer from investigation who left the spot. I sent HC Lakhvinder to the said person who was sitting on the motorcycle and I took my position with my staff at the distance of about 100 meter from Mukarba Chowk on the same road mentioned above. HC Lakhvinder started talking with that person and thereafter the said person had gone towards Alipur side and he met one person who was standing at the distance of 50 meters from there and after discussing with that person, he returned to said motorcycle. After about two three minutes, HC Lakhvinder Singh gave signal to us by moving his hand on his head. Thereafter, we started going towards them. I directed Ct. Kavinder and Ct. Rajesh to overpower the person who was standing about 50 meters from the motorcycle. Thereafter, I along with HC Lakhvinder overpowered the person who was present on the motorcycle while other person was overpowered by Ct. Kavinder and Rajesh. The said person was also brought near the motorcycle. I disclosed my identity to both the persons stating that we are police officials of Crime Branch of Delhi police and I also told them about the contents of secret information received by me through informer. HC Lakhvinder handed over 40 fake Indian currency notes in the denomination of Rs.500/ each to me and HC Lakhvinder told me that the said currency notes were handed over to him by the person who was sitting on the motorcycle.
SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 12 of 26 -13- Both the accused persons were interrogated and the name of the person who was sitting on motorcycle was revealed as Farukh, accused present in the court today (correctly identified) and the name of other person who whom accused Farukh had discussed and who was standing at distance of 50 meters and was overpowered by Ct. Kavinder and Ct. Rajesh as accused Abrar, present in the court today (correctly identified). HC Lakhvinde also told me that he had handed over the cash amount of Rs.2000/ i.e. four genuine currency notes given to him by me, to accused Farukh as a token money and accused Farukh given the said genuine notes to accused Abrar after discussing with him and accused Farukh has received the fake Indian currency notes Rs.20000/ from accused Abrar and given to them. I minutely checked those Indian fake currency notes of Rs.20,000/ and after checking, apparently the same were found to be fake. During interrogation, both the accused persons confessed the notes to be fake. The said 40 fake currency notes were sealed by me in a pullanda with the seal of AN and were taken into possession vide seizure memo Ex.PW1/C which bears my signature at point B. Accused Firoz signed the same at point X. But due to inadvertence, I could not mention the fact of specimen of seal of AN in Ex.PW1/C. Formal search of accused Firoz was taken by me. 160 Indian fake currency notes in the denomination of Rs.500/ each were recovered from the right pocket of his wearing pant. I checked the said notes and apparently found to be fake one. I mentioned the number of those notes in the seizure memo. The said notes were sealed by me in a pullanda with the seal of AN and was taken into possession vide memo Ex.PW1/D which bears my signature at point B and accused Firoz signed the same at point X. Thereafter, I took the formal search of accused Abrar. 180 Indian fake currency notes in the denomination of Rs.500/ each were recovered from the right pocket of his wearing pant. I checked the said notes and apparently found to be fake one. I mentioned the number of those notes in the seizure memo. The said notes were sealed by me in a pullanda with the seal of AN and was taken into possession vide memo Ex.PW1/B which bears my signature at point B and accused Abrar signed the same at point X. From the left SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 13 of 26 -14- pocket of wearing pant of accused Abrar, four genuine Indian currency note in the denomination of Rs.500/ each which were handed over by HC Lakhvinder to accused Firoz were recovered. I checked those notes and found the same which were handed over by me to HC Lakhvinder when I deputed him as decoy customer. The said four notes were sealed by me in a pullanda with the seal of AN and were taken into possession vide memo Ex.PW1/A which bears my signature at point B and accused signed the same at point X. I gave serial number 1 to 4 to above mentioned pullandas. Seal of AN was handed over to HC Lakhvinder after use. Thereafter, I prepared rukka Ex.PW2/B which bears my signature at point A and same was sent to PS Crime Branch through Ct. Rajesh at about 9.30 p.m. for registration of the case and on the basis of which the present case was registered. After registration of case, SI Parveen Kumar from Special Team, Crime Branch reached at the spot. I handed over both the accused persons, case property in sealed condition and the relevant papers to him. SI Parveen Kumar prepared site plan of place of occurrence at my instance. IO Thereafter, I was relieved from the investigation. IO recorded my statement on the next day morning at my office.
On 18.07.12 I joined the investigation of this case with SI Parveen Kumar. I along with IO and other staff and accused Abrar who was in custody of IO reached at Sambal, U.P. in search of accused Farukh as his name was disclosed by accused Abrar. While we were present at a pulia near Nooria Sarai, Sambal, accused Abrar made a phone call to Farukh from his mobile phone which was found in his personal search at the time of arrest on the above mentioned date. Thereafter, accused Farukh reached there within five ten minutes. On the pointing out of accused Abrar, he was apprehended from there. Accused Farukh is present in the court today (Correctly identified by the witness). Formal search of accused Farukh was taken by the IO. From the right pocket of his wearing kurta, 17 Indian fake currency notes in the denomination of Rs.500/ were recovered and same were sealed by the IO in a pulanda with the seal of PKD and were taken into possession vide memo Ex.PW2/C which bears my signature at point A. Accused Farukh signed the same at point SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 14 of 26 -15- X. He was interrogated and arrested in this case. Arrest memo of accused Farukh is Ex.PW2/D which bears my signature at point A. His personal search was also taken vide memo Ex.PW2/E which bears my signature at point A and accused signed the same at point X. One mobile phone make Samsung having dual SIMs, genuine cash amount of Rs.200/, photocopy of his voter card and some visiting cards were recovered and same were mentioned in his personal search memo. Disclosure statement of accused Farukh is Ex.PW2/F which bears my signature at point A and accused signed the same at point X. Thereafter, IO gave information to local police station, Sambal about the arrest of accused. Thereafter, we along with both the accused persons came back to our office and IO recorded my statement on the same day in this regard.
On 19.07.12 I again joined the investigation in this case. Both the accused pesons namely Abrar and Firoz were interrogated by the IO and IO recorded their supplementary disclosure statement. Supplementary disclosure statement of accused Abrar is Ex.pW2/G which bears my signature at point A and accused signed the same at X. Supplementary disclosure statement of accused Firoz is Ex.PW2/H which bears my signature at point A and accused signed the same at X. IO recorded my supplementary statement.
On 25.07.12 I along with IO and other staff with accused Farukh, present in the court today (correctly identified) who was custody in the custody of IO reached Muradabad in search of coaccused Bashir. At about 1.00 p.m. while we were present at Dungarpur Chowk, Muradabad, Sambal Road, U.P., accused Bashir @ Bishu, present in the court today (correctly identified by the witness) was apprehended at the instance of accused Farukh and he was arrested at about 3.00 p.m. Formal search ofaccused Bashir was taken by the IO. Cash amount of Rs. 4 Lacs of fake Indian currency notes in the denomination of Rs.500/ were recovered from the plastic carry bag which he was carrying with him at that time. The notes were checked by the IO and were sealed in a pullanda with the seal of PKD and were taken into possession vide memo Ex.PW2/J which bears my signature at point A and accused signed the same at point X. The SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 15 of 26 -16- disclosure statement of accused Bashir is Ex.PW2/K which bears my signature at point A and accused signed the same at point X. Arrest memo of accused Bashir is Ex.PW2/L which bears my signature at point A and accused signed the same at point X. His personal search was taken and the articles recovered from his personal search were taken into possession vide personal search memo Ex.PW2/M which bears my signature at point A and accused singed the same at point X. Thereafter, we along with both the accused persons came to our office. IO recorded my statement on that day also. I can identify the case property i.e. genuine currency notes and fake currency notes, if shown to me.
At this stage, MHC(M) has produced one sealed pullanda sealed with the seal of "Chalarth Patra Mudranalaya, Nasik Road". Same is opened and out of it five plastic boxes taken out.
At this stage, one unsealed box (having the seal of AN bearing no. 1) opened and it found to contain 40 fake currency notes of denomination of Rs.500/ each and same are taken out and shown to the witness and witness correctly identified the fake currency notes which were produced by HC Lakhvinder after dealing with accused Firoz. Same are Ex.P1 (colly.).
Court observation : Each of 40 fake currency notes bears the stamp of "Examiner Currency Notes" declaring the notes to be counterfeit.
At this stage, one unsealed box (having the seal of AN bearing no. 2) opened and it found to contain 160 fake currency notes of denomination of Rs.500/ each and same are taken out and shown to the witness and witness correctly identified the fake currency notes which were recovered from accused Firoz. Same are Ex.P2 (colly.).
Court observation : Each of 160 fake currency notes bears the stamp of "Examiner Currency Notes" declaring the notes to be counterfeit.
At this stage, one unsealed box (having the seal of AN bearing no. 4) opened and it found to contain 180 fake currency notes of denomination of Rs.500/ each and same are taken out and shown to the witness and witness correctly identified the fake currency notes which were recovered from SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 16 of 26 -17- accused Abrar. Same are Ex.P3 (colly.).
Court observation : Each of 180 fake currency notes bears the stamp of "Examiner Currency Notes" declaring the notes to be counterfeit.
At this stage, one unsealed box (having the seal of PKD bearing no. 3) opened and it found to contain 17 fake currency notes of denomination of Rs.500/ each and same are taken out and shown to the witness and witness correctly identified the fake currency notes which were recovered from accused Farukh. Same are Ex.P4 (colly.).
Court observation : Each of 17 fake currency notes bears the stamp of "Examiner Currency Notes" declaring the notes to be counterfeit.
At this stage, one unsealed box (having the seal of PKD bearing no. 6) opened and it found to contain 800 fake currency notes of denomination of Rs.500/ each and same are taken out and shown to the witness and witness correctly identified the fake currency notes which were recovered from accused Bashir. Same are Ex.P5 (colly.).
Court observation : Each of 800 fake currency notes bears the stamp of "Examiner Currency Notes" declaring the notes to be counterfeit.
At this stage, MHC(M) has produced one sealed envelope sealed with the seal of AN. Same is opened and out of it four genuine currency notes in the denomination of Rs.500/ each taken out and shown to the witness and witness states that these are genuine currency notes which were handed over to HC Lakhvinder for dealing with accused persons. The currency notes bears the no. 836641, 836642, 836643 and 836644. The said currency notes are Ex.P6 (colly.)
12. PW2 in his testimony has deposed regarding constitution of the raiding party, sending of decoy customer in the shape of HC Lakhwinder, and thereafter handing over of four currency notes of Rs. 500/ denomination to accused Firoz, and thereafter gesturing by the SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 17 of 26 -18- said witness to the police party, and thereafter arrest of the accused Firoz and Abrar from whose possession, fake currency notes were stated to have been recovered. Thereafter, it is stated that the accused persons made disclosure statement and pursuant to the disclosure statements of the accused persons, accused Farukh was arrested from Nooria Sarai, Sambal, U.P. from whose possession 17 currency notes of Rs. 500/ denomination were recovered. Thereafter, on the disclosure statement of accused Farukh, the accused Bashir was arrested from Muradabad and from whose search, cash amount of Rs. 4 Lakh of fake currency notes in the denomination of Rs. 500/ was recovered.
The testimony of PW2 in this regard is corroborated by the testimony of PW1 Ct. Kavinder Pal, PW5 HC Lakhwinder and by the IO PW6 SI Praveen Kumar. However, it will be useful to discuss their crossexamination as under.
13. PW1 in his crossexamination has admitted that they reached Mukarba Chowk in their Alto car, but he does not remember the number of the same. He has further admitted that they had made their departure entry, but he does not remember its number. He also stated that there was no public person at the place of arrest of the accused available to be requested by the IO to join the investigations. In his presence, IO did not give notice to the public persons to join investigations.
SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 18 of 26 -19-
14. Similarly, PW2 SI Anuj Nautiyal stated that it was correct that their office was in Prashant Vihar, near a Mall, but he did not join any public person from the nearby area of their office and when they reached at Mukarba Chowk at about 5:00 pm, traffic was passing from there. There were passersby but he did not ask them to join the investigations. He also stated that the Alto car was parked by him at the side of the road and that it was correct that one can see them from distance of 200300 meters. He also stated that IO intimated the local police of PS Sambal and information was given in writing to the local police, but he did not remember if any DD was entered in this respect. Local villagers had not gathered at Sambal. Accused Bashir was arrested from Dingapur Chowk, Muradabad, UP and some public persons were present there, but the IO did not ask any public person to join the investigation in his presence. Accused was not produced before any local court and brought to Delhi straightaway. In his presence IO did not give information regarding recovery of currency notes and had not handed over the seizure memo of the currency notes to any local police official or to the police station.
15. Similarly, PW5 in his crossexamination has stated that he does not remember the article(s) of the personal search of accused Firoz. He does not remember the engine number and chassis number of the motorcycle seized in this case. The seal of AN was used for sealing the currency notes. The sealing material was with the IO in his kit and it is SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 19 of 26 -20- correct that no public witness was joined in the investigations.
He further deposed that on 18.07.2012, SI Praveen Kumar made a DD entry, while leaving for Samball, UP, but he did not remember the DD number of the same.
16. Lastly, PW6 SI Praveen Kumar, IO has stated in his cross examination that he reached at the spot on motorcycle, but he did not remember the number of the same as it was taken from some other police official. He further deposed that apart from police officials and accused person, no other public person was present at Mukarba Chowk. He further deposed that CDRs of mobile phone of Firoz and Abrar were not collected. He did not obtain signatures of any eye witness at the site plan. The recovered motorcycle was of red colour make Bajaj Pulsar, but he could not tell the chassis number and engine number of the same. He also stated that accused Farukh was called by accused Abrar after making a call, but he does not remember the number of phones nor he had placed any documents regarding the said mobiles in the judicial file. Accused Farukh reached there within ten minutes after making the phone call by accused Firoz. Accused Bashir was arrested on 25.07.2012 and he was arrested from Dingerpur Chowk, Muradabad after making a call from mobile of accused Farukh but he does not remember its number nor did he place the CDR of the mobile phones of accused persons on the judicial file. He also stated that they did not make photograph or videograph of the said fake SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 20 of 26 -21- currency notes or bag with the photo of the accused at that time.
17. From the above testimonies of the prosecution witnesses as a whole after their crossexamination, number of things have come in the crossexamination of prosecution witnesses. Firstly, no public witness was joined in the investigations despite their availability in abundance at the place of recovery from accused Abrar and Firoz near Mukarba Chowk, which is one of the busiest traffic junction in Delhi. It is not clear as to why the said recovery proceedings were not videographed stealthy. If the entire police party could watch accused persons from distance, while HC Lakhvinder was giving signal then why it was not videographed.
18. It is also not clear from the seizure memo of motorcycle Ex. PW5/G, as to who was the owner of the said motorcycle bearing no. DL7SS3998. In absence of the same, the prosecution story seems to be suspicious, as the same would have been an important piece of evidence to nail the accused persons, if accused Firoz and Abrar were the owners of the same.
19. Thirdly, there is no DD entry regarding the departure of the police party firstly to Sambal, UP and thereafter to Muradabad. It is not clear how the police party could depart from the jurisdiction of Delhi without making DD entry in this regard and it is also not conceivable that there SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 21 of 26 -22- would be no DD entry regarding the return of the police party after arrest of the accused Farukh and Bashir. Even no public witness from the place where the accused persons Farukh and Bashir were arrested had been joined in the investigations nor the local police was intimated. There is no endorsement made in any of the documents placed on the record got made from the local police that the police party of this case had indeed visited Sambal and Muradabad on 18.07.2012 and 25.07.2012 respectively. It has come in the testimony of PW6 SI Praveen Kumar that on 18.07.2012, accused Abrar made a call to accused Farukh from his mobile number, which was found in his personal search at the time of arrest. However, CDR of the said mobile phone is not placed on the record. Similarly, PW6 SI Praveen Kumar stated in his crossexamination that accused Bashir was arrested on 25.07.2012 from Dingerpur Chowk, Muradabad after making a call from the mobile of accused Farukh, but he has not placed the CDR of the said mobile phone on the record.
20. From the perusal of the record, it is revealed that from personal search of accused Abrar Ex. PW5/D, one mobile phone make Wing was recovered. Similarly, from the personal search of accused Firoz Ex. PW5/C, one mobile phone make Onida, from personal search of accused Farukh Ex. PW2/E, one mobile phone make Samsung Dual SIM and from personal search of accused Bashir Ex. PW2/M, one mobile phone make Nokia were recovered. Therefore, it appears from SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 22 of 26 -23- the personal search memos of accused persons mentioned above that all of them were found in possession of mobile phones at the time of their arrest and personal search. Therefore, the best piece of evidence to nail the said accused persons was to place the CDRs of the said mobile phones, which would have shown their location, at the time of their arrests or to show that the relevant calls had been made from the mobiles of Abrar and Farukh at the time of arrest of accused Farukh and Bashir. The said call details would have clearly corroborated the prosecution version regarding the arrest of the accused persons from Mukarba Chowk, Delhi, Sambal and Muradabad, UP respectively. In fact, the entire cloud over the prosecution story would have been wiped out.
If the prosecution would have also placed the call details of the raiding party to show that they were indeed present at the said spots at the respective dates and time of recovery, the same would have been clinching piece of evidence in this case, which was not very difficult, as all IO had to do was to obtain the CDR from the service providers and to place and prove the same on the record which would have strongly corroborated the prosecution story. If there was nothing to hide, then the call details of the raiding party and IO should have been placed on the record to show the truthfulness of the prosecution story. Despite the fact that ASI Lakhwinder has admitted that ASI Praveen Kumar had made the departure entry on 18.07.2012, while leaving for Sambal, UP and ASI Anuj Notiyal had also made a departure entry on SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 23 of 26 -24- 25.04.2012 while leaving for Muradabad, none of those DD entries have been placed on the record, despite the same being stated to have been made, as per testimony of PW5. It has also diminished the probative force of the prosecution story to a large extent.
21. No doubt, it is a settled law that nonjoining of public witness is not fatal to the prosecution story, if it is otherwise trustworthy and believable, as judicial notice can also be taken of this fact that most public persons are wary of joining the investigations these days. However, as discussed above, the above deficiencies in the prosecution story as a whole have greatly diminished the probative force of the prosecution story to a large extent. At the same time, the probative force of the defence version is equally potent as both are inversely proportional to each other. If the probative force of the prosecution story increases, it ipso facto decreases the probative force of the defence version, vice versa, if the probative force of the defence version increases, it diminishes the probative force of the prosecution story. Both cannot exist at the same time and could have strong probative force at the same time. Therefore, both the versions in this scenario, either the prosecution version would be correct or the defence version would be correct. Therefore, both the version cannot coexist being correct and incorrect at the same time.
22. As per prosecution story, if the police party could keep watch from SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 24 of 26 -25- a safe distance, while waiting for one of them i.e. ASI Lakhwinder making gesture regarding the completion of the deal, then the accused being hardened criminals, dealing in fake currency notes would also have kept a person or watcher at a distance to watch them, lest they were arrested or fall in some difficulty. Therefore, it is hard to imagine that in that scenario, they would have not alerted the other carriers of fake currency notes that two of them had been arrested in this case, which further diminishes the prosecution version to some more extent.
23. On the scale of 0 to 10, where the probability of happening of any event is assessed or measured, the same would be touching the point of 50% i.e. at the grading 5 and the defence version is also equally probable having the same force of 50% or it would also be scoring total of 5 grading on the said scale(s) of 0 to 10. Both versions being equally probable. On such kind of ambivalent evidence, the accused persons cannot be convicted. The probative force necessary to convict them has to be very strong or forceful, which should be at least in the range of above 80% or at the rating of 8 on the scale(s) of 0 to 10, where 10 being the point of total certainty and 0 being the point of total disbelief. Consequently, all the accused persons are liable to be acquitted by giving them benefit of doubt.
24. To Sum Up:
The net result of above discussion is that the prosecution has SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 25 of 26 -26- failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, as a resultant, accused persons namely Abrar, Firoz Saifi and Farukh stand acquitted of the charge(s) u/s 120B IPC & u/S. 489C r/w Section 120B IPC. Further, accused Abrar and Firoz Saifi also stand acquitted of the charge(s) u/S. 489B r/w. Section 120B IPC by giving them benefit of doubt.
25. Previous bail bonds of all the accused persons stand cancelled and their sureties stand discharged. Original document(s), if any be returned after cancelling the endorsement(s), if any on the same, if the same are not resubmitted while furnishing bail bonds u/S. 437A CrPC.
The Accused persons stated above have already furnished their fresh bail bonds for the sum of Rs.20,000/ each with one surety of like amount each in compliance of Section 437A Cr.P.C, which will remain valid for a period of six months from today, as per the provisions of Section 437A CrPC.
File on completion be consigned to record room.
Announced in the open Court (Sanjeev Aggarwal) th on this 8 day of May 2018 Addl. Sessions Judge02,North Rohini Courts, Delhi/08.05.2018 SC No. 57786/16 FIR No. 190/12 PS. Crime Branch State Vs. Abrar & Ors. Page No. 26 of 26