Delhi District Court
State vs . (1) Rejwan S/O Babu on 20 April, 2019
IN THE COURT OF SH. POORAN CHAND,
ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE02 (WEST), DELHI.
Sessions Case No. 56226/16
Assigned to Sessions Court 26.03.2013
FIR No. 115/12
Police Station Nangloi
Under Section 392/397/411/506/34 IPC & 25/54/59
Arms Act
Charged under section 392/397/411/506/34 IPC & 25/54/59
Arms Act
State Vs. (1) Rejwan S/o Babu
R/o Village Sakras, PS Firozpur, Jhirka,
Distt. Nuh, Haryana
(2) Sabir Khan S/o Jorudin
R/o Village Mirpur, PS Hathin,
Distt. Palwal, Haryana
(3) Sahun S/o Rehman Mav
R/o Village Bashanbara,
Distt. Mathura, UP. (Declared PO vide
Order dated 27.07.2016)
(4) Salli Khan S/o Badanmev,
R/o Village Gushkashar,
Distt. Palwal, Haryana. (Convicted for a
period already undergone vide Order
dated 19.09.2016)
(5) Mulla @ Imtiyaz S/o Rasal
R/o Village Guraksar, PS Hathin,
District Palwal, Haryana. (Convicted for
a period already undergone vide Order
dated 19.09.2016)
Arguments heard on 12.04.2019
Date of Judgment 20.04.2019
Final Order Acquittal
SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 1 of 20
JUDGMENT
1. This judgment shall dispose of the case arose from FIR no.
115/2012, registered at PS Nangloi. After completing the investigation charge sheet has been filed by the investigating agency in the Court before the Ilaqa Magistrate. The concerned Magistrate took cognizance of the offence and completed the committal proceedings.
2. The case has been committed to the Court of Sessions for trial.
After hearing the arguments on charge, charges were framed against the accused persons for the offence U/s 392/397/411/506/34 IPC & 25/54/59 Arms Act. It is pertinent to mention that accused Rejwan and Sabir Khan charged for having committed robbery of truck bearing registration No. RJ06GA6147 and mobile phone from complainants Ashok Singh and Bhog Raj and also threatened the complainants to kill. Accused Rejwan was also charged for offence U/S 25 Arms Act as at the time of arrest he was found in possession of one country made pistol and one live cartridge without license or permit. Accused Sabir Khan was also charged for having committed offence U/S 411 IPC as at the time of arrest one Nokia mobile phone was recovered from his possession belonging to complainant Ashok Singh. Both the accused persons were also charged for having committed offence punishable U/S 411/34 IPC as robbed truck was recovered from their possession by the police.
3. The brief facts of the present case are that a DD No. 5A was recorded SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 2 of 20 in PS Nangloi regarding robbery of a truck bearing registration no. RJ 06GA6147 near Rajdhani Metro Station and the said DD was marked to ASI Ranbir Singh through Ct. Daya Ram. Accordingly, ASI Ranbir reached at the spot where complainant Ashok Singh met him and he recorded his statement regarding the robbery of truck and the mobile phone by the robbers and prepared rukka upon the said statement and got the present FIR registered. Thereafter, IO prepared site plan at the instance of complainant and also called Sh.Ankush Arora, owner of the truck. On inquiry, owner of the truck disclosed that he has installed GPS System in the said truck and by operating his laptop he came to know the location of the truck near HSIDC Jind and thereafter, IO ASI Ranbir alongwith other police staff and the owner of the truck, after informing the senior police officer, left for Jind to trace the location. They reached at the GPS location shown in the laptop and found the truck there. They also apprehended the driver of the said truck namely Rejwan from whose possession one country made pistol was recovered on personal search. They also apprehended second person sitting in the said truck whose name was disclosed as Sabir Khan and from whose possession the stolen mobile phone of the complainant was recovered. They prepared the site plan of the spot and seized the case property. Thereafter, disclosure statements of both the accused persons were recorded and arrested in this case and their family members were informed about their arrest in the present case. In view of the disclosure statement, police also got arrested one Salli Khan and Mulla @ Imtiaz. However, accused Sahun could not be arrested as he was SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 3 of 20 absconding and was declared Proclaimed Offender (PO) vide Order dated 27.07.2016. Thereafter, IO prepared a report U/S 173 Cr.P.C. by charging all the accused persons for the above said offences and filed the same in the Court for judicial verdict. It is pertinent to mention that during the course of trial, accused Salli Khan and Mulla @ Imtiaz pleaded guilty and they were convicted by Ld Predecessor of this Court for the period already undergone on 19.09.2016. Only accused Rizwan and Sabir Khan has faced the complete trial.
4. In order to prove its case, prosecution examined as much as 9 witnesses. The relevant portion of the testimony of these witnesses are as under:
5. . PW1 HC Raj Singh is the Duty Officer who on the basis of Rukka recorded FIR Ex.PW1/A and also proved his endorsement Ex.PW1/B and have also proved the certificate U/S 65 B Indian Evidence Act as Ex.PW1/C. This witness is of formal nature.
6. PW2 is Ct. Sandeep who joined investigation with IO and went to Jind, Haryana. He proved on record seizure memos of mobile phone and desi katta vide Ex.PW2/A and Ex.PW2/B respectively. He further deposed that IO had prepared the sketch of the katta which is Ex. PW2/C. The live cartridge was also recovered from the katta. Case property was kept in separate cloth parcels and they were sealed with the seal of RS. IO arrested both accused persons namely Sabbir and SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 4 of 20 Rizwan vide arrest memos Ex. PW2/D & E respectively. Both accused persons also made disclosure statements vide Ex. PW2/H & I respectively. Accused persons led the police party at the place of occurrence vide pointing out memos Ex. PW2/J & PW2/K. PW3 further deposed that IO seized the truck vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/L and documents of the truck i.e copy of RC, insurance, driving license vide memo Ex. PW2/M and said documents are Mark P1, P2 & P3 respectively. Thereafter case property was deposited in malkhana and accused persons were got medically examined. PW2 further deposed that on 08.05.2012 both accused persons made supplementary disclosure statements vide Ex. PW2/N & PW2/O respectively. PW2 also identified the katta as Ex. PW2/A1 and cartridge as Ex. PW2/A2. PW2 also identified the Mobile of black color make Nokia C2 containing battery as Ex. PW2/A3.
7. PW3 Ct. Dharmender deposed to the effect that on 18.05.2012 he was posted as Constable at PS Nangloi Delhi. On that day he received one sealed parcel from MHCM sealed with the seal of RS vide RC no. 73/21/12 and deposited the same in intact condition in FSL Rohini and handed over the receipt to MHCM. This witness is also of formal nature.
8. PW4 Ashok Singh is the complainant and is a star witness of the prosecution. PW4 has deposed to the effect that on 04/05.05.2012 he along with Bodhraj was working as driver of the truck bearing SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 5 of 20 registration no. RJ06GA6147. On that day they unloaded the goods near Mundka Metro station at 56 PM. On that day, at at about 12/12:30 midnight while he and Bodhraj were sleeping in the truck, two boys entered the drivers cabin and in the meantime 10/12 co accused persons also reached there and tied their hands and legs with the help of cloth and forcibly took them into their white Blero and left them at Badarpur border. Thereafter he along with codriver Bodhraj went to PS Sarita Vihar and called the owner of the truck Rakesh Kumar who also reached there. Thereafter they went to PS Nangloi. His statement was recorded by the IO which is Ex. PW4/A. He identified the truck as Ex. P1. In his cross examination by Ld Addl. PP for State, he denied that he had stated before the police that at the time of the recovery of truck, accused Sabir and Rejwan were sitting on the driver seat and adjoining seat respectively.
9. PW5 Ankush Arora is the owner of truck. He deposed to the effect that in the night of 05.05.2012 his truck was robbed by the offenders at night time from the possession of the driver Ashok Singh and associate driver Bodhraj. On receipt of information about the theft of truck he went to PS Nangloi. He along with police, his uncle and driver went in search of truck with the help of GPS and found the truck at HSIDC, Jind Haryana. Police seized the truck. Later on he got the truck released on superdari vide ex. PW5/A. The truck was identified by the witness as Ex. P1. He identified the photographs showing chasis number, engine number and body of the truck as Ex. P2.
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10. PW6 SI Ranbir Singh deposed to the effect that in the night intervening 04/05.05.2012, he was posted in PS Nangloi on emergency duty and at about 5 am he received DD no. 5A in respect of snatching of one truck. Upon receipt of DD no. 5A already Ex. PW1/D he went to Rajdhani Park, main Rohtak Road, Delhi where complainant Ashok met them. PW6 recorded his statement as Ex. PW4/A and made endorsement on portion A to A and prepared rukka and send Ct. Daya Ram for registration of the FIR. In the meantime Ankush owner of the truck came there and told them there was GPS in the truck. Ct. Daya Ram returned to the spot with copy of FIR and rukka. PW6 prepared the site plan Ex. PW6/A at the instance of Ashok Singh. PW6 further deposed that he along with Ankush owner of the truck, Ct. Daya Ram, Ct. Sandeep, Ashok Singh and Bodh Raj went to HSIDC, Jind, Haryana in search of truck with the help of GPS installed in the truck and found the truck standing there. PW6 identified accused Sabir and Rizwan. Both accused were apprehended by them. On personal search conducted by PW6 one loaded country made pistol was found in the pocket of wearing jeans of accused Rejwan. While on search of accused Sabir, mobile phone make Nokia C2 was recovered from the pocket of his pant. PW6 further deposed that he prepared the sketch of the pistol and live cartridge vid Ex. PW2/C. He prepared the pulanda of pistol and live cartridge and sealed it with the seal of RS. Same was taken into possession vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/B. Mobile phone was seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/A. The recovered truck was SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 7 of 20 seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/L. The site plan of the place of recovery was Ex. PW6/B. PW6 further deposed that he arrested accused Rizwan and Sabbir vide arrest memos Ex. PW2/D & PW2/E respectively. He conducted personal search of accused Rizwan and accused Sabir vide arrest memos Ex. PW2/F & PW2/G respectively. PW6 further deposed that he recorded disclosure statement of accused Sabbir and Rizwan vide memos Ex. PW2/H & PW2/I respectively. Thereafter they returned to Delhi with case property and accused persons and deposited the case property in malkhana. PW6 further deposed that thereafter accused persons led them to place of robbery of the aforesaid truck and he prepared the pointing out memo already Ex. PW2/J & PW2/K respectively. Thereafter he seized the photocopy of RC and insurance of the truck and photocopy of driving license of Ashok vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/M. PW6 further deposed that on 07.05.2012 he took accused Rejwan and Sabbir to native village of accused Salli & Sahun in their search but in vain. PW6 further deposed that he got the accused Sahun and Salli declared PO. On 11.11.12, PW6 came to know that you accused Salli was arrested by special cell. He went there and interrogated accused Salli. PW6 further deposed that on 27.11.2012, after taking permission from the Ld MM, accused Salli Khan was interrogated by him and arrested vide Ex. PW6/C. He recorded the disclosure statement of accused Salli vide Ex. PW6/D. He took 2 days PC remand of the accused. He prepared the pointing out memo of place of occurrence at the instance of accused Salli which is Ex. PW6/E. PW6 sent pullanda of recovered country made pistol to SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 8 of 20 FSL Rohini and received FSL report. He took sanction U/s 39 Arms Act and filed the same with supplementary charge of accused Salli Khan. After completing investigation in respect of accused Salli Khan, he prepared the challan and filed the same in the Court. PW6 further deposed that on 08.01.2013 accused Mulla @ Imtiaz was produced before Ld. MM on his application and after taking permission from Ld. MM he arrested accused Mulla @ Imtiaz vide arrest memo Ex. PW6/F and interrogated and recorded his disclosure statement Ex PW6/G. He also moved an application for the TIP of accused Mulla @ Imtiaz but he refused to participate in it. He recorded the statement of witnesses. After completion of investigation in respect of accused Mulla @ Imtiaz, he prepared Supplementary Challan and filed the same before the Court. PW6 further deposed that on 20.06.2013, accused Sahun was produced before Ld. MM on his application and after taking permission from Ld. MM he arrested accused Sahun vide arrest memo Ex. PW6/H and interrogated and recorded his disclosure statement Ex PW6/J. He also moved an application for the TIP of accused Sahun but he refused to participate in it. He recorded the statement of witnesses. After completion of investigation in respect of accused Sahun, he prepared supplementary challan and filed the same before the Court. He also identified the country made pistol as Ex. PW2/A1 and and cartridge as Ex. PW2/A2 as being recovered from accused Rizwan. He also identified one mobile phone of black colour make Nokia C2 having two IMEI No. i.e. 352408053884903 & 352408053884911 as Ex. PW2/A3 as being recovered from accused Sabir.
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11. PW7 Addl. DCP Sh. Devender Arya deposed to the effect that on 09.10.2012, he accorded sanction U/s 39 Arms Act i.e. Ex. PW 7/A in respect of accused Rizwan in the present case after going through the FSL record and other relevant documents. This witness is also of formal nature.
12. PW8 HC Daya Ram is also recovery witness and had deposed to the effect that on 05.05.2012, he along with IO / ASI Ranbir Singh went to Rohtak Road, near Rajdhani Park Metro Station, Cement Wali Bali and met the owner of the truck, truck driver and one another truck driver namely Bodh Raj. IO recorded the statement of truck driver and prepared rukka and he along with rukka went to PS and got registered the present FIR and returned back at the spot with original rukka and copy of FIR and handed over the same to IO. PW8 deposed that driver of the truck informed that as per GPS system installed in his truck its location is at Jind, Haryana. Thereafter, he along with Ct. Sandeep, ASI Ranbir Singh, owner of the truck, both drivers of the truck went to Jind, Haryana. There the searched the truck as per location of the truck shown in laptop on the basis of GPS System. PW8 further deposed that they found that accused Sabbir was sitting on driving seat and accused Rizwan was sitting on conductor seat. Accused Rizwan and Sabbir were overpowered. On taking formal search accused Sabbir, was found in possession of the mobile phone which was robbed from the driver of SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 10 of 20 the said truck and accused Rizwan was found in possession of desi katta. IO seized the mobile phone and desi katta vide separate seizure memos already Ex.PW2/A & Ex. PW2/B respectively. IO had prepared the sketch of the katta which is already Ex. PW2/C. The live cartridge was also recovered from the katta. Case property was kept in separate cloth parcels and they were sealed with the seal of RS. IO arrested both accused persons namely Sabbir and Rizwan vide arrest memos already Ex. PW2/D & E respectively. Both accused persons also made disclosure statements vide already Ex. PW2/H & I respectively. The truck bearing registration no. RJ06GA6147 was seized vide seizure memo already Ex. PW2/L. PW8 also identified Pistol and cartridge which are already Ex. PW2/A1 and Ex. PW2/A2. He also identified the said mobile already Ex.PW2/A3 and truck as Ex. P1. This witness also identified both the accused persons in the Court.
13. PW9 Dr N.P. Waghmare, Director State Forensic Science Laboratory, from Verna Goa deposed to the effect that on 18.05.2012 he was posted at FSL Rohini, Delhi as Assistant Director (Ballistics). On that day, one duly sealed parcel sealed with the seal of RS in connection with present case FIR No.115/12 was received in the office of FSL Rohini. The said parcel was assigned to him for examination. On opening the said parcel one sealed cloth packet containing one country made pistol of 8 mm/.315" bore marked Ex 'F1' and one SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 11 of 20 cartridge 8 mm/.315" marked Ex 'A1' were taken out in the laboratory. PW9 Dr N.P. Waghmare further deposed that after examination he opined that Ex 'F1' was a firearm as defined in Arms Act. It was country made pistol, capable of chambering and firing standard 8mm/.315" caliber ammunition. The Ex 8mm/.315" cartridge mark 'A1' was chambered and successfully test fired through country made pistol marked 'F1'. Hence, it was opined that exhibit country made pistol 'F1' was in normal working order and exhibit 8mm/.315"
cartridge marked 'A1' was live ammunition before it was test fired in the laboratory. PW9 Dr N.P. Waghmare further deposed that the exhibit 8mm/.315" cartridge marked 'A1' was ammunition as defined in Arms Act, 1959. Case exhibits / remnants of exhibits sent to this laboratory for examination have been sealed with the seal of FSL NEW DELHI. His report in this regard is Ex PW9/A. PW9 identified the pistol as already Ex PW2/A1 and cartridge is already Ex PW2/A
2.
14. I have heard final arguments and have perused the evidence as well as record.
15. It is argumed on behalf of accused persons that they have been falsely implicated in this case by the police only to work out their case and accused has nothing to do with the offence committed in this case. It is further argued that the star witness of the prosecution i.e. PW4 Ashok Singh has not supported the prosecution case on the point of SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 12 of 20 identification of accused persons. PW4 categorically deposed that he has not seen the accused persons as they were in muffled faces that is why he was unable to identify the accused persons. As material witness has failed to identify the accused persons in the court, they are entitled for acquittal of the charge.
16. Per Contra, it is argued on behalf of state that the evidence of the prosecution shall be appreciated cumulatively. It is further argued that other PWs i.e. PW2 Ct. Sandeep, PW8 HC Daya Ram and PW6 SI Ranbir Singh have supported the prosecution case and have identified both the accused persons in the witness box. There is no reason to disbelieve the testimony of PW2 and PW6 who are also the eye witnesses of the recovery of mobile phone, fire arm and robbed truck only because they are the police witnesses. Hence it is argued that due weightage be given to the testimony of PW2, PW8 and PW6. The strength of evidence of PW2, PW8 and PW6, prosecution has been able to prove its charge against accused persons and they be convicted and sentenced as per law.
17. To prove the charge against the accused persons, prosecution has examined PW4 Sh. Ashok Singh, driver of the robbed truck as eye witness. Prosecution has examined PW6 SI Ranbir Singh, PW8 HC Daya Ram and PW2 Ct. Sandeep as eye witnesses to the factum of the recovery of the truck, mobile phone and fire arm. At the cost of repetition the relevant portion of these three witnesses are as under: SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 13 of 20 "PW2 is Ct. Sandeep who joined investigation with IO and went to Jind, Haryana. He proved on record seizure memos of mobile phone and desi katta vide Ex.PW2/A and Ex.PW2/B respectively. He further deposed that IO had prepared the sketch of the katta which is Ex. PW2/C. The live cartridge was also recovered from the katta. Case property was kept in separate cloth parcels and they were sealed with the seal of RS. IO arrested both accused persons namely Sabbir and Rizwan vide arrest memos Ex. PW2/D & E respectively. Both accused persons also made disclosure statements vide Ex. PW2/H & I respectively. Accused persons led the police party at the place of occurrence vide pointing out memos Ex. PW2/J & PW2/K. PW 3 further deposed that IO seized the truck vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/L and documents of the truck i.e copy of RC, insurance, driving license vide memo Ex.PW2/M and said documents are Mark P1, P2 & P3 respectively."
"PW4 Ashok Singh is the complainant and deposed to the effect that on 04/05.05.2012 he along with Bodhraj was working as driver of the truck bearing registration no. RJ06GA6147. On that day they unloaded the goods near Mundka Metro station at 56 PM. On that day, at at about 12/12:30 midnight while he and Bodhraj were sleeping the truck. Two boys entered the drivers cabin and in the meantime 10/12 coaccused persons also reached there and tied their hands and legs with the help of cloth and forcibly took them into their white Blero and left them at Badarpur border. Thereafter he along with codriver Bodhraj went to PS Sarita Vihar and called the owner of the truck Rakesh Kumar who also reached there. Thereafter they went to PS Nangloi. His statement was recorded by the IO vide Ex. PW4/A."
SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 14 of 20 "PW6 SI Ranbir Singh deposed to the effect that in the night intervening 04/05.05.2012, he was posted in PS Nangloi on emergency duty and at about 5 am he received DD no. 5A in respect of snatching of one truck. Upon receipt of DD no. 5A already Ex. PW1/D he went to Rajdhani Park, main Rohtak Road, Delhi where complainant Ashok met them. PW6 recorded his statement as Ex. PW4/A and made endorsement on portion A to A and send Ct. Daya Ram for registration of the FIR. In the meantime Ankush owner of the truck came there and told them there was GPS in the truck. Ct. Daya Ram returned to the spot with copy of FIR and rukka. PW6 prepared the site plan Ex. PW6/A at the instance of Ashok Singh. PW6 further deposed that he along with Ankush owner of the truck, Ct. Daya Ram, Ct. Sandeep, Ashok Singh and Bodh Raj went to HSIDC, Jind, Haryana in search of truck with the help of GPS installed in the truck and found the truck standing there. PW6 identified accused Sabir and Rizwan. Both accused were apprehended by them. On personal search conducted by PW6 one loaded country made pistol was found in the pocket of wearing jeans of accused Rejwan. While on search of accused Sabir, mobile phone make Nokia C2 was recovered from the his pant pocket. PW6 further deposed that he prepared the sketch of the pistol and live cartridge vide Ex. PW2/C. He prepared the pulanda of pistol and live cartridge and sealed it with the seal of RS. Same was taken into possession vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/B. Mobile phone was seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/A. The recovered truck was seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/L. The site plan of the place of recovery was Ex. PW6/B. PW6 further deposed that he arrested accused Rizwan and Sabbir vide arrest memos Ex. PW2/D & PW2/E respectively. He conducted personal search of accused Rizwan and accused Sabir vide arrest memos Ex.
SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 15 of 20 PW2/F & PW2/G respectively. PW6 further deposed that he recorded disclosure statement of accused Sabbir and Rizwan vide memos Ex. PW2/H & PW2/I respectively. Thereafter they returned to Delhi with case property and accused persons and deposited the case property in malkhana. PW6 further deposed that thereafter accused persons led them to place of robbery of the aforesaid truck and he prepared the pointing out memo already Ex. PW2/J & PW2/K respectively. Thereafter he seized the photocopy of RC and insurance of the truck and photocopy of driving license of Ashok vide seizure memo Ex. PW2/M. PW6 further deposed that on 07.05.2012 he took accused Rejwan and Sabbir to native village of accused Salli & Sahun in their search but in vain. PW6 further deposed that he got the accused Sahun and Salli declared PO. On 11.11.12, PW6 came to know that you accused Salli was arrested by special cell. He went there and in interrogated accused Salli. PW6 further deposed that on 27.11.2012, after taking permission from the MM, accused Salli Khan was interrogated by him and arrested by him vide Ex. PW6/C. He recorded the disclosure statement of accused Salli vide Ex. PW6/D. He took 2 days PC remand of the accused. He prepared the pointing out memo of place of occurrence at the instance of accused Salli which is Ex. PW6/E. PW6 sent pullanda of recovered country made pistol to FSL Rohini and received FSL report."
"PW8 HC Daya Ram is also recovery witness and had deposed to the effect that on 05.05.2012, he along with IO / ASI Ranbir Singh went to Rohtak Road, near Rajdhani Park Metro Station, Cement Wali Bali and met the owner of the truck, truck driver and one another truck driver namely Bodh Raj. IO recorded the statement of truck driver and prepared rukka and he along with SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 16 of 20 rukka went to PS and got registered the present FIR and returned back at the spot with original rukka and copy of FIR and handed over the same to IO. PW8 deposed that driver of the truck informed that as per GPS system installed in his truck its location is at Jind, Haryana. Thereafter, he along with Ct. Sandeep, ASI Ranbir Singh, owner of the truck, both drivers of the truck went to Jind, Haryana. There the searched the truck as per location of the truck shown in laptop on the basis of GPS System. PW8 further deposed that they found that accused Sabbir was sitting on driving seat and accused Rizwan was sitting on conductor seat. Accused Rizwan and Sabbir were overpowered. On taking formal search accused Sabbir, was found in possession of the mobile phone which was robbed from the driver of the said truck and accused Rizwan was found in possession of desi katta. IO seized the mobile phone and desi katta vide separate seizure memos already Ex.PW2/A & Ex. PW2/B respectively. IO had prepared the sketch of the katta which is already Ex. PW2/C. The live cartridge was also recovered from the katta. Case property was kept in separate cloth parcels and they were sealed with the seal of RS. IO arrested both accused persons namely Sabbir and Rizwan vide arrest memos already Ex. PW2/D & E respectively. Both accused persons also made disclosure statements vide already Ex. PW2/H & I respectively. The truck bearing registration no. RJ06GA6147 was seized vide seizure memo already Ex. PW2/L. PW8 also identified Pistol and cartridge which are already Ex. PW2/A1 and Ex. PW2/A2. He also identified the said mobile already Ex.PW2/A3 and truck as Ex. P1. This witness also identified both the accused persons in the Court."
18. It is a settled proposition of law that to bring home conviction, the SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 17 of 20 prosecution has to establish its case beyond the pale of reasonable doubt by establishing an unbroken chains of events, leading to commission of the offence. It is further a settled proposition of law that once this chain is broken or a plausible theory of another possibility is shown, the accused becomes entitled to the benefit of doubt which ultimately leads to his/her acquittal. Emphasis supplied upon case titled as Sadhu Singh Vs State of Punjab 1997 (3) Crimes 55.
19. It is to be borne in mind that the most important aspect of any successful prosecution is clear establishment or proof of identity of the accused being the assailant who has committed the alleged offence. This aspect of identify becomes the most primordial when the accusation against the accused has been for the serious offence like the present one. It is also stated to be first and most important connecting link in the chain of events which are required to be proved by the prosecution before it could take its case towards the other connecting links for the purpose of proving the ingredients with which accused has been charged with.
20. In the present case, PW4 Ashok Singh is the main eye witness of the prosecution and as per the case of prosecution, both the accused persons were arrested at the instance of PW4 and the case property was recovered thereafter. But bare perusal of the testimony of PW4 shows that he has not seen the accused persons as they were in muffled faces and failed to identify them in the witness box. Admittedly, no SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 18 of 20 TIP of the accused persons has been conducted by the prosecution. PW4 Ashok Singh was cross examined by Ld State Counsel at length and despite cross examination, prosecution has failed to prove the identity of accused Rejwan and Sabir Khan. Even PW4 has denied the suggestion of Ld Addl. PP stating that "It is wrong to suggest that I had stated before police that at the time of recovery of truck accused Sabir and Rejwan, now present in the court was sitting on the driver seat and adjoining seat respectively or that I had identified them before the police as a robber of the truck".
21. So far as testimony of PW2 Ct. Sandeep, PW6 SI Ranbir Singh and PW8 HC Daya Ram are concerned, though they have identified both the accused persons in the witness box to the effect of recovery of case property but except the testimonies of these witnesses are not substantiated by the testimony of PW4 Ashok Singh as he is the star witness. Even PW4 Ashok Singh has deposed that the alleged recovered mobile phone was found in the truck itself and was not recovered from the possession of accused as deposed by police witnesses. Besides PW4 Ashok Singh, there is no other public/eye witness in this case. In view of the testimony of PW4, Ashok Singh, the testimony of PW2 and PW6 does not inspire confidence in the mind of the Court. It is pertinent to mention that though the recovery of case property was effected in the presence of PW5 Ankush Arora, owner of the truck but prosecution has not examined this witness to the said effect reason best known to it. Even no plausible explanation has SC No. 56226/16 Page no. : 19 of 20 come on record for not examining PW5 to the effect that recovery was made in his presence and both the accused persons were arrested. Further no other independent witness is examined by the prosecution to prove the recovery of case property from the possession of accused persons from Jind, Haryana.
22. In view of the above discussion, the prosecution has utterly failed to prove its case so as to complete the chain much less to prove the same beyond the pale of reasonable doubt. Resultantly, accused persons namely Rejwan and Sabir Khan are entitled to be acquitted by giving him benefit of doubt and accordingly acquitted of all charges. Hence ordered accordingly.
23. In view of the statutory requirement of section 437A Cr.P.C. the accused Rejwan and Sabir Khan are directed to furnish a bail bond in the sum of Rs.20,000/ with one surety each of like amount to the satisfaction of the court, for a period of 6 months, to appear before the appellate court, if so required.
Digitally signed by POORAN CHAND POORAN Date:
CHAND 2019.04.29
ANNOUNCED IN THE OPEN 12:54:16
+0530
COURT ON THIS 20.04.2019
(POORAN CHAND)
ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE
(WEST02):DELHI
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