Delhi District Court
State vs Basanta Etc. on 26 May, 2010
IN THE COURT OF SHRI RAJ KUMAR CHAUHAN ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE/SPECIAL JUDGE: NDPS:
TIS HAZARI COURTS:(WEST) DELHI FIR no. 74/09 Police station : Khyala U/s328/304/201/120 B IPC State V/s Basanta etc. ORDER ON CHARGE Present : Ld. APP for State Accused Randeep is on interim bail. Other Accused persons are in judicial custody with their respective counsels.
The brief facts giving rise to registration of the present FIR and arrest of the accused persons is as under :
During the present liquor tragedy cases 26 persons lost their lives and several other were hosptialized at various hospital in Delhi. In this regard, 26 cases were registered at police stations Dabri, Khyala and Rajouri Garden including the present one. During the investigation of liquor tragedy cases it transpired that spurious liquor of Shokeen brand was manufactured at premises no. 6/1/8 Khasra no. 515 (617) 517 (61) Basai Enclave Part 1, Near Shringri Gas Godown, Gurgaon by accused persons namely Raman, Chaman, Pawan @ Pujari , Subhash , Anil , Biru etc; besides Shokeen brand, other brands of liquor was also manufactured by them; stickers etc were provided by accused Kuldeep , the raw spirit was arranged by Subhash & Suraj @ Bhim from accused Randeep @ Nanhe . After manufacturing the spurious liquor it was given to accused Sukhbir @ FIR no. 74/09 Page 1 of 16 Sukhu for supplying to Basanta , a bootlegger in Delhi. During the investigation of liquor tragedy cases, spurious liquor of Shokeen brand was recovered vide FIR no. 140/09 , PS Dabri, 144/09 , PS Dabri, 73/09 PS Khyala and 132/09 PS Dabri. Further, stickers of Shokeen Brand were also recovered in case FIR no. 71/09 PS Khyala from the manufacturing unit at Gurgaon . Case property (spurious liquor/stickers of Shokeen brand ) of all the above cases including the recovered rectified spirit etc (seized in FIR no. 71/09 PS Khyala) were sent to FSL Rohini for comparison with original samples of Queen Distillers, Chandigarh including comparison of recovered spurious liquor amongst themselves. After comparison , opinion of expert has been obtained and it has been opined that spurious liquor (including shape of bottles , labels /stickers , cap etc ) recovered in FIR no. 71/09 PS Khayala , 140/09 PS Dabri , 144/09 PS Dabri , 73/09 PS Khyala and 132/09 PS Dabri does not resemble with the original samples seized and sent for comparison in FIR no. 144/09 , PS Dabri and are forged and the spurious liquor (including bottles , caps and stickers etc) recovered in FIR no. 132/09 PS Dabri, FIR no. 71/09 PS Khayala , 140/09 PS Dabri, 144/09 PS Dabri, 73/09 , PS Khyala were similar in terms of shape of bottles, design , size, printing etc of caps and stickers /labels . It is pertinent to mention here that methyl alcohol was also found in the the samples of spurious Shokeen brand liquor recovered in cases vide FIR no. 140/09, PS Dabri, 144/09, PS Dabri , 73/09 PS Khyala .
2 On 2.4.2009 Lalji S/o Jetha was admitted in DDU hospital by his FIR no. 74/09 Page 2 of 16 wife Champa with the alleged history of 'Alchol Intake' and during the treatment Lalji expired on 5.4.2009 by consuming the liquor which was allegedly sold to him by accused Basanta. The statement of witnesses Dinesh s/o Shohanji and Prakash son of Ram Lal was recorded during investigation. As per statement of Dinesh in the evening of 1.4.2009 at about 7.15 p.m when Lalji was coming from his house , he asked him to accompany him to the house of Basanta to purchase liquor and on request of Lalji he accompanied to the house of Basanta where Lalji , deceased purchased one quarter of Shokeen brand liquor from Basanta Sansi and consumed the same there and during the night he came to know that Lalji has got admitted in DDU hospital. After death of Lalji his postmortem was conducted and viscera of the deceased was preserved and the opinion regarding cause of death has been obtained which is due to Ethyl and Methyl Alcohol.
3 Roll and recoveries of each arrested accused is as under as : Accused Raman Singh and Chaman Singh On 11.5.2009 both were apprehended in a Wagon R car no. DL 9C S 2392 and got recovered 25 cartoon of illicit country made liquor . Following incriminating material were recovered from ;Manoj Ka Makan, Basai Enclave, Industrial Area, Gurgoan, Haryana :
1 Labels of masti Malta 1,25,500 2 Bombay no. 1 10,800 3 Jagadhari No. 1 1,84,500 FIR no. 74/09 Page 3 of 16
4 Shokeen Santra 1, 44, 250 5 Black Bull 4, 250 6 Bottles Caps 4 bags 7 Empty bottles /nips /half 4 bags 8 Bottling machine 2 9 Rectified spirits 7 Drums Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha is the supplier , who supplied illicit liquor to accused Basanta , a known boottleggers . During the course of investigation of case FIR no. 132/09 u/s 328/304 IPC PS Dabri , Delhi, 79 nips were recovered.
At the instance of accused Sukhbir @ Sukha , the stickers /label of 'Shokeen' masaledar country made liquor brand are recovered which are similar with the sticker /label recovered from Basai , Gurgaon at the instance of accused Raman & Chaman and differ from the stickers /label of company.
One public witness Ashok Kumar examined during investigation who confirmed that Sukhbir @ Sukha supplied lillicit liquor to Basanta. Accused Basanta Basanta used to receive illicit liquor from Sukhbir @ Sukha . Statement of Public witnesses including family members of deceased persons confirmed that accused Basanta used to provide spurious liquor to deceased persons at his home.
FIR no. 74/09 Page 4 of 16 Accused Subhash During investigation, illicit liquor stickers recovered from the possession of accused Subhash were :
Labels of Murhtal No. 1 48, 510
Accused Suraj @ Bhim Accused Suraj @ Bhim acting on the instructions of accused Subhash used to bring rectified spirit from accused Randeep @ Nanhe and handed over to Raman & others. Following labels were recovered from his possession Labels of Mastana country made liquor 33,320 And two drums (200 litre each ) were also recovered at the instance of both of accused persons namely Suraj @ Bhim and Suibhash Accused Randeep @ Nanhe Four barrels (about 800 litres ) Rectified spirit were recovered from his hotel Dhaba namely Bholey Ka Dhaba near by his village Rukhi, Distt Sonipat , Haryana, He purchased this rectified spirit by the trucks passing near to his dhaba.
Accused Kuldeep Kumar Accused Kuldeep Kumar used to print stickers/labels for this illicit liquor. Following stickers /Labels were recovered at his instance.
1 Total 11 Plastic films Bony whisky, Bonn , Pagdi Dhari , Blended Whisky, Raat Di Rani, Ghumer , Desi Sharab , Desi Madira, for defence service only . For sale in Haryana , For sale in U.P and for sale in FIR no. 74/09 Page 5 of 16 Rajasthan .
2 labels of Royal Stag Whisky 15,048 3 labels of Bagpiper Deluxe Whisky 10, 500 4 ARGUMENTS OF Ld. DEFENCE COUNSEL Arguments on behalf of accused Basanta by Ld. Counsel Shri Deepak Ghai , advocate .
He has submitted that accused has played no part so as to attract the charge of conspiracy as there is no evidence except his disclosure statement . The disclosure statement of coaccused Sukhbir is not admissible in evidence against him as there is no other evidence to link him to the manufacturing of the alleged liquor ; the accused has not sold any liquor to any person as alleged and he has been falsely implicated by the police for ulterior motives.
5 Shri S. N Qureshi, Ld. Counsel for accused Sukhbir.
He has argued that the accused has played no role in alleged conspiracy and there is no evidence to link him to the manufacturing of the alleged liquor ; the allegations of supply of the liquor by coaccused Basanta are totally false as there is no evidence in that regard ; the disclosure of coaccused is not admissible in evidence; he was falsely arrested in case FIR no. 132/09 after a period of six months of alleged incident and false disclosure statement was recorded by the Investigating officer and false recovery of 'Petti' of Shokeen Masaledar Sharab was shown which was planted by the police in order to falsely implicate him in FIR no. 74/09 Page 6 of 16 the case. In all other cases, he has been falsely implicated just on the basis of false disclosure statement in the above FIR . There is no material evidence against him to link to the offence alleged for which he has been chargesheeted.
6 Shri Absar Ahmed Ld. Counsel for accused Subhash and Suraj He has argued that they have been falsely arrested on the disclosure statement of coaccused Basanta which was otherwise not admissible in evidence. ; there is no evidence against them to show their participation in alleged conspiracy for manufacturing and supply of the spurious liquor ; nothing was recovered from accused persons and recovery of the alleged stickers /labels was planted in order to falsely implicate them. There is no other evidence or material against them except the alleged recovery of the stickers /labels from them.
7 Ld. APP for State submitted that there is recovery of 200 litres of Mastana country made liquor from each accused. Ld. APP for State further submitted that as per FSL report said liquor was found to be spurious. 8 Shri Anoop Shrama, Ld. Counsel for accused Kuldeep has submitted that he was falsely arrested on the disclosure of coaccused Subhash in case FIR no. 71/09. As per allegations on consuming spurious liquor in total 26 persons allegedly died by consuming Shokeen and Shokeen Masledar; the alleged recovery from the accused has been shown on 12.9.2009 and 17.9.2009 which is labels of Royal Stag and Bagpiper ; another recovery from the accused has been shown to be of plastic films FIR no. 74/09 Page 7 of 16 and aluminum plates .None of the alleged recovered plastic films and aluminum plates show that it pertains to Shokeen or Shokeen Masledar; there is no recovery which may connect the accused with the manufacturing or supply of Shokeen or Shokeen masaledar spurious liquor which was allegedly consumed by the deceased persons as being claimed by prosecution. There is no material or evidence against him to connect him with alleged conspiracy as no material is brought on record to show that he was connected in any manner with manufacturing or supply of the alleged printing material used for labeling and manufacturing of the alleged spurious liquor .
9 Accused Randeep @ Nanhe argued by Shri Keshav Kaushik Advocate As per allegations of the prosecution 800 litres of rectified spirit was recovered from the dhaba of accused namely Bholey Ka Dhaba which was a false and planted recovery ; there is no material to link him with alleged conspiracy of manufacturing or supply of alleged spurious liquor ; there is no evidence that he has ever supplied the spirit for manufacturing of alleged spurious liquor which might be consumed by the deceased and injured persons ; there is nothing on record to shows as to what was the source of the allegedly recovered rectified spirit which shows the same has been planted by the police . There is no evidence or investigation on the aspect as to from what tanker /truck the alleged spirit was procured by the accused at any time.
10 Ld. APP for State however submitted that four barrels (about 800 FIR no. 74/09 Page 8 of 16 liters ) rectified spirit were recovered from accused Randeep @ Nanhe from his hotel Dhaba namely Bholey Ka Dhabar near his village Rukhi , Distt. Sonipat , Haryana which was chemically examined in FSL. As per FSL report dated 29.12.2009 the same is found to contain Methyl Alcohol , a poisonous substance 11 Argument for accused Raman and Chaman There is no evidence /material against them to link them with the offence alleged . As per the allegations and investigation some person namely Pawan @ Pujari is alleged to have been engaged in manufacturing of liquor . Pawan @ Pujari is real brother of the accused person living separately and having no concern with accused Raman and Chaman in any manner . They have been made scape goat deliberately by police in order to save the real culprits; they have been arrested falsely on the disclosure of coaccused persons which is not admissible in evidence ; there is no evidence against them to show their participation in the alleged conspiracy for manufacturing and supply of spurious liquor at any point of time . 12 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding accused Basanta As per challan u/s 173 Cr. PC the Investigating officer had collected evidence during investigation that accused Basanta was engaged in supply and sale of alleged spurious liquor which was consumed by deceased persons; he has been obtaining spurious liquor from accused Sukhbir @ Sukha ; the relatives of the deceased persons are witness to that effect that accused has been selling spurious liquor which was purchased by the FIR no. 74/09 Page 9 of 16 deceased.
13 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha Ld. APP for State submits that he has been engaged in supply of spurious liquor to accused Basanta after procuring the same from Raman and Chaman who were manufacturing spurious liquor at Gurgaon , Basai, Sector 10 Industrial Area, Gurgaon.
14 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding Accused Suraj and Subhash As per allegations they have been supplying rectified spirit to accused Raman and Chaman for manufacturing the spurious liquor . They have been taking the rectified spirit for that purpose from Randeep @ Nanhe who has been procuring the same from the truck /canter passing through his Dhaba . Two drums of rectified spirit was also recovered . 200 litres each from Subhash and Suraj which was chemically examined and found to be Methyl Alcohol.
15 Submissions of Ld. APP for State regarding accused Kuldeep As per investigation , he has been found manufacturing the stickers/Labels which were used for manufacturing the alleged spurious liquor of coaccused Raman and Chaman for the purpose of selling the same to be genuine. During investigation the sticker /label of Royal Stag (15,408) and Bagpiper Deluxe Whisky (10,500) have been recovered . 11 Plastic films Bony whisky, Bonn, Pagdi Dhari , Blended whisky , Raat Di FIR no. 74/09 Page 10 of 16 Rani , Ghumer Deshi Sharab, Desi Madira for defence service only for sale in Haryana and U.P and for sale in Rajasthan .
Admittedly there is no recovery of label /sticker /films from the accused of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar .
16 Ld. APP for State submitted that he has destroyed the labels/stickers of Shokeen and Shokeen Masaledar and for that purpose section 201 IPC was added. He has disclosed in his statement about destruction of those labels of Shokeen and Shokeen Masaledar . Ld. APP for State further submitted that recovery of the stickers of various other brands shows that he had been preparing those forged and fabricated stickers ; he has no authority /licence from any authority of those branded liquors to publish or supply the stickers/labels of those brands ; three machines were found affixed in his premises which were being used for the purpose of printing of those forged labels . Those two premises of accused Kuldeep are lying sealed ; FSL team has visited the premises for the purpose of expert opinion to find out whether recovered stickers/labels could have been published from these machines and FSL report is awaited. 17 Submissions of Ld. APP for State for accused Raman and Chaman Both the accused were running a factory of manufacturing of illegal liquor at Basai ,Gurgaon and Haryana and incriminating material was recovered from Manoj Ka Makan, Basai Enclave, Part I , Industrial Area, Gurgaon as mentioned in the challan.
FIR no. 74/09 Page 11 of 16 18
Reply of Ld. Counsel on behalf of accused Kuldeep to the contention of Ld. APP for State Ld. Counsel for accused Kuldeep in his reply to the contentions and submissions of the Ld. APP for State submits that there is no complaint of the alleged companies whose stickers have been allegedly found from the premises of the accused. Disclosure statement of accused is not admissible; nothing is mentioned in disclosure statement that he had been manufacturing labels /stickers. ; disclosure statement of the other accused is not admissible in evidence; there is no recovery of the facts /objects in pursuance to the disclosure of this accused as well as coaccused persons so as to link him with alleged offence; though not admitted at the most if allegations are presumed to be true he can be proceeded only under Excise Act; the allegedly seized machines from the premises can be used only for manufacturing card board (gatta) only and no such labels /stickers as used for the branded whisky can be manufactured by those machines. The allegations of destruction of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar Labels is totally false because if he has destroyed those stickers what prevented him from destroying other allegedly recovered stickers from his premises. The accused Subhash has disclosed in his statement that he is procuring label of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar from accused Kuldeep. 19 I have considered the rival submissions made at bar and gone through the material on record .
20 Regarding the nature of evidence about the alleged conspiracy FIR no. 74/09 Page 12 of 16 between the accused persons , the Hon'ble Apex court in E. K Chandrasenan Vs State of Kerala , AIR 1995 SC, 1066 has held :
"The conspiracies are not hatched in open , by their nature , they are secretly planned . They can be proved even by circumstantial evidence , the lack of direct evidence relating to conspiracy has no consequence "
21 After going through material on record as collected during investigation and also the statement of the witnesses recorded during investigation, it is found that all the accused persons have played their independent role in manufacturing and supply of spurious liquor which was ultimately sold to the deceased by accused Basanta as a result he has died .
22 As per MLC no. 5955 the deceased had consumed the spurious liquor . Vide FSL report dated 29.12.2009 the viscera of the deceased found to contain Methyl Alchol.
23 The contention is raised by Ld. Defence counsel for each accused wherein they had stated that alleged role of the accused persons is different and they cannot be charged for the offence u/s 120 B IPC because there is no direct evidence on record to show that each accused was acting in prosecution of criminal conspiracy or has agreed to the alleged conspiracy of manufacturing , supply and sale of spurious liquor. 24 Admittedly as laid down by Hon'ble Apex Court in case of E. K Chandrasenan Vs State of Kerala , referred SUPRA , it is not always FIR no. 74/09 Page 13 of 16 possible to establish criminal conspiracy by direct evidence and factum of criminal conspiracy can be proved by circumstantial evidence . The circumstantial evidence in the prosecution case shows that all the accused persons had been acting in consonance with each other and their role is supplementary and complimentary to the acts of each other . 25 The material on record shows that accused Raman and Chaman alongwith some other persons i.e Pawan @ Pujari not yet arrested and Subhash were engaged in the manufacturing of spurious liquor at their premises in Gurgaon. The recovered spirit containing methyl alcohol was being supplied to them by accused Subhash and Suraj @ Bhim after procuring the same from accused Randeep @ Nanhe who used to receive the said rectified spirit from the tanker /truck passing through the road on which his dhaba was situated.
26 Accused Kuldeep was found in possession of Stickers/Labels of various brands of whiskies and as per disclosure statement of co accused Subhash , they used to procure stickers for manufacturing the spurious liquor from accused Kuldeep . The contention of the ld. Counsel for accused Kuldeep is that no label /stickers of Shokeen /Shokeen Masaledar which was allegedly consumed by deceased persons were found/recovered from his possession and as such he cannot be charged for the conspiracy. I am of the considered opinion that considering the disclosure statement and recovery of various stickers /labels of various whiskies which according to the statement of the witnesses of the respective distilleries were fabricated FIR no. 74/09 Page 14 of 16 and forged, at the stage of framing of the charge, it is not necessary in the given circumstances that the stickers of the Shokeen brand must have been found and recovered from his premises . Even case of the prosecution is that he has destroyed the said stickers/labels of Shokeen /Shokeen Masledar in a clandestine manner. Further his premises had been inspected by team of the FSL to find out whether the machines found therein could print such stickers which were allegedly recovered from his possession. Therefore, material collected during investigation is sufficient which has linked accused Kuldeep to the alleged supply of the labels /stickers of the various brands of liquor which was allegedly being manufactured illegally by accused Raman and Chaman . Accused Sukhbir @ Sukha was engaged allegedly in supply of illicit manufactured liquor by accused Raman and Chaman to accused Basanta and other bootleggers in Delhi. 27 The contention of the Ld. Counsel for accused Sukhbir was that he has played no role in manufacturing and selling of the alleged liquor and therefore no charge u/s 120 B IPC or any other offence can be framed against him because there is no evidence on record to show that he got supplied the illicit prepared liquor to accused Basanta after procuring the same from accused Raman and Chaman .
28 Ld. APP for the state pointed out that there is one witness Ashok Kumar examined during investigation who has confirmed that accused Sukhbir was engaged in supply of illicit liquor to accused Basanta . It is further submitted that during course of investigation of case FIR 132/09 , FIR no. 74/09 Page 15 of 16 PS Dabri , 79nips were recovered at the instance of accused Sukhbir . Further at his instance stickers /labels of Shokeen /Shokeen Masledar similar with the stickers /label recovered from Basai Gurgaon premises used for manufacturing illicit liquor were also recovered. . 29 Thus, the above discussion shows that the role of individual accused is such which has interwoven the facts of this liquor tragedy in such a manner that their role cannot be separated from each other so far as they were found engaged in manufacturing /supply and sale of illicit liquor which was ultimately sold by accused Basanta to the deceased. Hence the material on record primafacie shows that all the accused persons have conspired together in the manufacturing /supply and sale of illicit liquor which was sold to the ultimate person who consumed and died and hence all accused persons are liable to be charged for the offence u/s 120 B IPC. 30 Considering the material on record and after going through the contentions of Ld. Counsels for accused persons, I am of the considered opinion that material on record is sufficient which prima facie discloses the offence under section 120 B /328/304/201 IPC against all the accused person.
It is therefore, ordered that all the accused persons be charged U/s120 B /328/304/201 IPC .
Announced in the open court on 26th day of May 2010 (RajKumar Chauhan) Additional Sessions Judge Special Judge : NDPS (West)/Delhi FIR no. 74/09 Page 16 of 16 FIR no. 74/09 Page 17 of 16