Bangalore District Court
The State Of Karnataka vs No.1 : Narendra @ Betta @ Goona on 25 June, 2018
IN THE COURT OF THE LI ADDL. CITY CIVIL &
SESSIONS JUDGE AT BENGALURU CITY. (CCH 52)
Dated this the 25th day of June 2018
PRESENT:
Sri G.D.Mahavarkar, M.A., LL.B (Spl),
M.L. (Lab & Indstrl Rlns & Adm. Laws),
LL.M (Business Laws), M.Phil-in-Law
(Juridical Science)
LI Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City.
S.C.No. 1413/2016
Complainant : The State of Karnataka,
Represented by it's
The Sub-Inspector of Police,
Byatarayanapura Police Station,
Bengaluru - 560 026.
(By Public Prosecutor)
Vs.
Accused No.1 : Narendra @ Betta @ Goona,
S/o. Ramanjaneya,
Aged 24 years,
R/a. No.69, 1st Main, 2nd Cross,
Ananthanagar, Bapujinagar,
Bengaluru.
(IN PERSON)
1 Date of commission of offence 04.04.2013
2 Date of report of offence 04.04.2013
3 Date of arrest of the accused A1 being in J.C. in
Cr.No.218/17 U/s. 302
of I.P.C. of Chandra
Layout P.S., he is
produced from Jail
under B/Wt. on
20/04/2018.
4 Date of release of accused on bail Accused is produced
under body warrant.
2 SC No.1413/2016
5 Date of commencement of 20/04/2018
evidence
6 Date of closing of evidence 20/04/2018
7 Name of the complainant S. Krishnamurthy, PSI.
8 Offences complained of Sections 399 & 402 IPC
9 Date of pronouncement of 25/06/2018
judgment
10 Opinion of the Judge Guilt of the accused-
person not proved
11 Order of Sentence As per final-order
JUDGMENT
This is a charge-sheet filed by the Sub-Inspector of Police, Byatarayanapura Police Station, Bengaluru City, leveling the charges against the above said accused-person(s) for the commission of the offences punishable U/Secs.399 & 402 of I.P.C. in the committal III ACMM Court, Bengaluru City, in it's CC No.15671/2013 in connection with the Byatarayanapura P.S. Cr.No.155/2013.
2. The epitomized facts of the allegations that are leveled against the above said accused-person(s) in the charge-sheet run thus:
On 03.04.2013 at about 1.30 in the midnight (i.e., 1.30 a.m. in the early-morning-hours on 04.04.2013) inside the Christian crematorium situated at Mysuru road, within the limits of Byatarayanapura police station, Bengaluru City, the accused No's.
2 & 5 along-with accused No's.1,3,4 & 6 by possessing the deadly-
weapons, had unlawfully assembled and were hatching a plan to 3 SC No.1413/2016 commit dacoity of the valuable-goods and golden-ornaments of the persons in the said area and thereby, the accused-persons committed the offences punishable U/Secs.399 & 402 of I.P.C.
3. After filing the charge-sheet, cognizance of the offences punishable U/Secs.399, 402 of I.P.C. was taken by III ACMM Court, Bengaluru City.
In response to the process issued against the accused No.1 he has put-in his appearance before this court, through his learned counsel.
Earlier, on moving for bail, the instant accused No.1 was released on regular bail, but later-on, he having remained as absconding, the original case came to be split-up, consequent upon which the instant S.C. No.1413/2016 came to be registered and the said accused No.1 being in J.C. in some other case/s he is secured under the body warrant before this court. Copies of the charge-sheet and other documents referred to U/Sec.173 of Cr.P.C. were supplied to the accused-person by the III ACMM Court, Bengaluru City, in contemplation with the provisions U/Sec.207 of Cr.P.C. and thereafter committed the case to this court in contemplation with the provisions U/Sec.209 of Cr.P.C.
After hearing both-sides, charges for the offences punishable U/Secs.399 & 402 of I.P.C. were framed, and the same were read- 4 SC No.1413/2016 over, and explained to the accused-person in the vernacular best- known to him.
The accused-person has denied the same and pleaded not guilty and further claimed to be tried.
4. In order to prove the guilt against the accused-person, the prosecution has adduced the evidence of the witnesses as PW's.1 to 4, and placed it's reliance-on the documents marked at Exs.P.1 to P.3, P.1(a), P.2(a) & P.3(a), and the material-objects marked on behalf of the prosecution are at MO No's.1 to 6.
5. After the prosecution's evidence was closed, as the incriminating circumstances were arising-out of the evidence of the prosecution-witnesses, the statement of the accused-person under the provisions U/Sec.313 of Cr.P.C., were recorded.
6. I have heard the arguments advanced by the learned Public Prosecutor for the State as-well-as the said accused-person.
7. Now, the points that arise for my consideration are:
(1) Whether the prosecution proves beyond the shadow of all the reasonable doubts that, on 03.04.2013 at about 1.30 in the midnight (i.e., 1.30 a.m. in the early-morning-hours on 04.04.2013) inside the Christian crematorium situated at Mysuru road, within the limits of Byatarayanapura police station, Bengaluru City, the accused-person(s) possessing the deadly-weapons, got prepared themselves to commit dacoity of the valuable-goods and golden-ornaments of 5 SC No.1413/2016 the person in the said area and thereby, the accused person committed the offence punishable U/Sec.399 of I.P.C.?
(2) Whether the prosecution further proves beyond the shadow of all the reasonable doubts that, on the above said date, time and place, the accused-person(s) unlawfully assembled and hatched a plan for the purpose of committing the dacoity, and thereby, the accused-person committed the offence punishable U/Sec.402 of I.P.C.?
(3) What order?
8. My findings on the above said points are as under:
Point No.1 .. In the Negative.
Point No.2 .. In the Negative.
Point No.3 .. As per the final-order,
for the following:
REASONS
9. Point No's.1 & 2:- To avoid reiteration of material available in hand and to appreciate the evidence in better position, I hereby take-up Point No's.1 & 2 together admixingly for discussion.
10. It is the specific tale of the prosecution that, on 03.04.2013 at about 1.30 in the midnight (i.e., 1.30 a.m. in the early-morning-hours on 04.04.2013) inside the Christian crematorium situated at Mysuru road, within the limits of Byatarayanapura police station, Bengaluru City, the accused No.1 6 SC No.1413/2016 along-with accused No's. 2,3 4,5 & 6 by possessing the deadly- weapons, had unlawfully assembled and were hatching a plan to commit dacoity of the valuable-goods and golden-ornaments of the persons in the said area and thereby, the accused-person committed the offences punishable U/Secs.399 & 402 of I.P.C.
11. At the very outset, the absolute burden of proving the alleged imputations against the accused is casted-upon the prosecution alone in pursuance with the provisions under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
12. To substantiate it's case, the prosecution has got examined the witnesses P.W's.1 to 4 which C.W.1/P.W.1 who is the P.S.I.; & C.W.4/P.W.2, C.W.6/P.W.3 and C.W.7/P.W.4 who are the police officials having accompanied the C.W.1 at the time of raid-cum-seizure-mahazar and thereby, the prosecution has placed it's reliance-on the documentations marked at Exs.P.1 to P.3, in which Ex.P.1 is the seizure-panchanama, Ex.P.1(a) is the signature of the PW.1, Ex.P.2 is the original-report/complaint, Ex.P.2(a) is the signature of the PW.1, Ex.P.3 is the First Information Report and Ex.P.3(a) is the signature of the PW.1, and the material-objects marked on behalf of the prosecution are at MO No's.1 to 6, in which MO No.1 is the iron-chopper, MO No.2 is the knife, MO No's.3 to 6 are the wooden-clubs.
7 SC No.1413/2016
13. On meticulous perusal of the entire deposition of the PW.1, it is crystal clear that, the PW.1 being the PSI having conducted the raid as-well-as the partial investigating-officer, has endeavored to depose in favour of the prosecution in his chief- examination to the effect that, on 04.04.2013 while himself along- with his police-officials/CWs.4 to 8 were on special night-duty, at about 1.30 in the midnight, he received a credible information to the effect that, some-persons had gathered unlawfully in the Christian crematorium with an intention to commit dacoity holding the deadly-weapons and also making the preparation for the same, immediately he secured 2 panchas/CWs.2 & 3 on the spot itself and rushed towards the said spot along-with his police- officials/CWs.4 to 8 in their Government Jeep bearing No.KA-02- G-1010 and waited for a while from a distance and watched and then got confirmed, he received a credible information and then they raided-upon the said 6 persons who had gathered there-at but 3 persons having run-away there-from, only 3 persons were able to be caught-hold who were none-other than the accused No.1/Narendra @ Betta @ Goona, accused No.2/Dilip Kumar and accused No.3/Afroz; out of whom, the accused No.2/Dilip Kumar being present in the open-court has been identified by him. It is further stated that, he came to know the names of remaining accused-persons who ran-away there-from are accused 8 SC No.1413/2016 No.4/Dhananjaya @ Dhanu, accused No.5/Naveen @ Halukuri and accused No.6/Rajesh @ Jayappa, through the nabbed accused No's.1 to 3. He has, even, identified the accused No.5/Naveen @ Halukuri in the open-court. On searching the said accused No's.1 to 3, the accused No.1 was possessing a chopper, the accused No.2 was possessing a wooden-club and the accused No.3 was possessing a knife; and the accused No's.4 & 5 possessing 3 wooden-clubs ran-away there-from by throwing the same on the spot itself which are identified and marked as per MO No's.1 to 6 respectively, and all the said deadly-weapons were seized in presence of the panchas/CWs.2 & 3 from 2.00 to 3.00 in the midnight under the raid-cum-seizure-mahazar which is marked as per Ex.P.1, on which his signature is as per Ex.P.1(a). Thereafter, he returned to the police station along-with the said nabbed accused No's.1 to 3 with MO No's.1 to 6 at about 3.15 in the midnight and prepared the report/complaint by himself on behalf of the Government and registered the case at Cr.No.155/2013 for the offences punishable U/Secs.399 & 402 of IPC and sent the original-complaint as per Ex.P.2 and it's original-FIR as per Ex.P.3 to the concerned Magistrate and the copies of the same to his higher-authorities for information and his signatures thereon are as per Exs.P.2(a) & P.3(a), respectively. Thereafter, he got converted the said MO No's.1 to 6 into the PF No.58/2013 and on 9 SC No.1413/2016 the same-day, he recorded the self-voluntary-statements of the accused No's.1` to 3 and the statements of the CWs.2 to 4 and then after following the proper rules and procedure, he arrested the accused No's.1 to 3 and then produced before the court. Thereafter, on 09.05.2013 the accused No.4/Dhananjaya having appeared before him along-with the bail granted by the court of law, he was nabbed symbolically and then released on bail and thereafter on the same-day, again the additional-statements of the CWs.2 to 8 were recorded and thereafter handed-over the case-file for further investigation to the CW.9.
14. Further, the P.W.2/P.C. No. 10987, P.W.3/H.C. 6097 and P.W.4/H.C. 7053 the then P.C. 9063 being the police officials having accompanied the P.W.1 at the time of the said raid-cum- seizure mahazar, have also endeavored to depose in favour of the prosecution in their respective chief-examinations with the similar versions of each-other to the effect that, on 03/04/2013, while themselves and the C.W.1 were on special duty along-with C.W's.5 & 8, at about 1.30 in the midnight, P.W.1 having received a credible-information to the effect that, some of the persons had gathered unlawfully in the Christian crematorium with an intention to commit dacoity holding the deadly-weapons and also making the preparations for the same, immediately C.W.1 secured two panchas i.e., C.W's. 2 & 3 on the spot itself and altogether 10 SC No.1413/2016 rushed towards the said spot in their Government Jeep bearing No. KA-02-G-1010 and waited for a while from a distance and watched and then got confirmed the credible information received by the P.W.1 and then raided-upon the said 6 persons who had gathered there-at, but three persons having run-away there-from, only three persons were able to be caught-hold who were none-other than the accused No.1/Narendra @ Betta @ Goona, Accused No.2/Dilip Kumar and accused No.3/Afroz; out of whom the accused No.1/Narendra @ Betta @ Goona being present in the open-court has been identified by them. It is further stated that, they came to know the names of remaining accused persons who ran-away there-from, as the accused No.4/Dhananjaya @ Dhanu, Accused No.5/Naveen @ Halukuri and Accused No.6/Rajesh @ Jayappa, through the nabbed-accused No's. 1 to 3. On searching the said accused No's. 1 to 3, the accused No.1 was possessing a chopper, the accused No.2 was possessing a wooden-club and accused No.3 was possessing a knife and the Accused No's 4 & 5 possessing 3 wooden-clubs ran-away there-from and threw-away the same on the spot itself and which are also identified and marked as per M.O. No's. 1 to 6 respectively, and all the said deadly weapons were seized in presence of the panchas /C.W's. 2 & 3 from 2.00 to 3.00 in the mid-night under the raid-cum-seizure mahazar. Thereafter, they returned to the police-station along-with the said 11 SC No.1413/2016 nabbed-accused No's. 1 to 3 with M.O's. 1 to 6 in the midnight and C.W.1 prepared the report/complaint on behalf of the Government and registered the case at Cr.No. 155/2013 for the offences punishable U/Secs. 399 & 402 of I.P.C. and sent the original- complaint with original-F.I.R. to the concerned Magistrate and the copies of the same to the higher-authorities for information.
15. On meticulous consideration of the entire depositions of the PW's.1 to 4 along-with the entire-material placed on record, it is clear that, during the time of trial, despite having issued sufficient process to the CWs.2, 3, 5, 8 & 9, they have not at-all turned-up before this court to depose in favour of the prosecution. In addition to the same, the concerned police have not at-all taken the pains to put their any efforts to secure the said CWs.2 , 3, 5, 8 & 9 and produce before this court to adduce their evidence in support of the prosecution's case which clearly goes to indicate the least quantum of responsibility taken by the concerned SHO/investigating-officer/police. Therefore, in the lack of substantial-grounds in the submission made by the learned Public Prosecutor, his prayer was rejected and dropped the CWs. 2, 3, 5, 8 & 9. Non-examination of the CWs.2, 3, 5, 8 & 9 who are the material-witnesses in favour of the prosecution is absolutely fatal to the prosecution's case.
12 SC No.1413/2016
16. Merely basing-on the very depositions of the PW's.1 to 4 who are none-other than the PSI stated to have conducted the raid as-well-as having investigated partially; & the other police officials having accompanied the PW1 for raid-cum-seizure Mahazar, respectively, this court cannot arrive-at a conclusion to target the accused-persons for the conviction in the lack of substantial chunk of material. To put-into simple-terms, the prosecution has utterly failed to establish the interlink in the sequence of events and circumstances to form and constitute a complete chain of commission of the alleged offences by the accused-person/s.
17. Therefore, under all these circumstances, this court is of the clear opinion that, the entire-case of the prosecution is prevailing with the major discrepancies, discrepanting the entire case of the prosecution, creating the fatal doubts in the mind of this court, without any alimentation. Therefore, the benefit of such doubts will have to be given to the accused-person/s by virtue of a well-settled principle of criminal jurisprudence. Under all these circumstances, even it is highly impossible and improbable to ameliorate regarding the alleged imputations against the accused No.1. Therefore, in view of all these reasons, this court is of the clear opinion that, the prosecution has utterly failed to establish and prove the Point No's.1 & 2 beyond the shadow of all 13 SC No.1413/2016 the reasonable doubts. Hence, I am inclined to answer Point No's.1 & 2 in the 'Negative'.
18. Point No.3:- For the reasons discussed at much-length while answering the Point No's.1 & 2 in the Negative, herein before supra, I am inclined to proceed to pass the following:
ORDER The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the guilt against the Accused No.1 and therefore, the Accused No.1 is found not guilty for having committed the offences U/Secs.399 & 402 of I.P.C.
In exercise of the powers conferred-upon me U/Sec.232 r/w Sec.235(1) of Cr.P.C., I hereby acquit the instant Accused No.1 by name, Narendra @ Betta @ Goona, S/o. Ramanjaneya, aged 24 years, residing at No.69, 1st Main, 2nd Cross, Ananthanagar, Bapujinagar, Bengaluru, and set him to liberty forthwith in this case. The instant-Accused No.1 by name Narendra @ Betta @ Goona, S/o. Ramanjaneya, aged 24 years, residing at No.69, 1st Main, 2nd Cross, Ananthanagar, Bapujinagar, Bengaluru, shall be released in the instant-case alone, if he is not required in any other-cases.
The seized-properties marked at MO No's.1 to 6, namely, iron-chopper, knife and wooden-clubs, respectively, are hereby ordered to be preserved, maintained and retained by the concerned, wherever they are in the same position, till the disposal of the other cases pending against the co-accused persons of the Accused No.1 and in case if no any other cases are pending against the co-accused persons, then the said 14 SC No.1413/2016 MO No's.1 & 2 are hereby ordered to be confiscated to the Exchequer of the State Government after the efflux of the appeal period and MO No's.3 to 6 being worthless, are hereby ordered to be destroyed after the efflux of the appeal period.
(Dictated to the Judgment Writer, transcribed and typed by her and after corrections, printout taken and then pronounced and signed by me in the open Court, on this the 25th day of June, 2018) (G.D.Mahavarkar) LI Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City.
APPENDIX List of the witnesses examined for the prosecution-side:
PW.1 Krishnamurthy S PW.2 Naveen Kumar R. PW.3 Ramesh B.C. PW.4 Prakash
List of documents exhibited for the prosecution-side:
Ex.P.1 Seizure-panchanama. Ex.P.1(a) Signature of the P.W.1. Ex.P.2 Original-report/complaint. Ex.P.2(a) Signature of the P.W.1. Ex.P.3 First Information Report. Ex.P.3(a) Signature of the PW.1.
List of material-objects marked for the prosecution-side:
MO No.1 Iron-chopper. MO No.2 Knife. MO No's.3 to 6 Wooden-clubs.
List of witnesses examined for the defence-side:
- NIL -15 SC No.1413/2016
List of documents exhibited for the defence-side:
- NIL -
LI Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City.
16 SC No.1413/2016 (Judgment pronounced in the open-court. Operative-portion of the same is extracted as under) ORDER The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the guilt against the Accused No.1 and therefore, the Accused No.1 is found not guilty for having committed the offences U/Secs.399 & 402 of I.P.C. In exercise of the powers conferred-upon me U/Sec.232 r/w Sec.235(1) of Cr.P.C., I hereby acquit the instant Accused No.1 by name, Narendra @ Betta @ Goona, S/o. Ramanjaneya, aged 24 years, residing at No.69, 1st Main, 2nd Cross, Ananthanagar, Bapujinagar, Bengaluru, and set him to liberty forthwith in this case. The instant-Accused No.1 by name Narendra @ Betta @ Goona, S/o. Ramanjaneya, aged 24 years, residing at No.69, 1st Main, 2nd Cross, Ananthanagar, Bapujinagar, Bengaluru, shall be 17 SC No.1413/2016 released in the instant-case alone, if he is not required in any other-cases. The seized-properties marked at MO No's.1 to 6, namely, iron- chopper, knife and wooden- clubs, respectively, are hereby ordered to be preserved, maintained and retained by the concerned, wherever they are in the same position, till the disposal of the other cases pending against the co-accused persons of the Accused No.1 and in case if no any other cases are pending against the co-accused persons, then the said MO No's.1 & 2 are hereby ordered to be confiscated to the Exchequer of the State Government after the efflux of the appeal period and MO No's.3 to 6 being worthless, are hereby ordered to be destroyed after the efflux of the appeal period. LI Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City. 18 SC No.1413/2016