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Bangalore District Court

State By H.A.L Police Station vs No.2 : Ravi on 13 March, 2020

   IN THE COURT OF THE LXIII ADDL.CITY CIVIL &
    SESSIONS JUDGE (CCH-64) AT BENGALURU.                       [[[[




    Dated this Friday the 13th day of March 2020
        P R E S E N T :-     Sri. B.VENKATESHA B.Sc., LL.B.,
                             LXIII ADDL.CITY CIVIL & SESSIONS JUDGE,
                              BENGALURU CITY.

                     SC.No.1629/2017

Complainant      :         State by H.A.L Police Station,
                           Bangalore.

                               (By   Public Prosecutor)
                                 -V/s-

Accused No.2 :             Ravi, S/o Srinivas,
                           Aged about 41 years,
                           R/at Saluhunese Village,
                           Kanakapura Taluk,
                           Ramanagara District.

                              (By Sri.S.N.Mahesh, Adv., for A2)



    1. Date of commission of offence : 12.10.2014
    2. Date of report of offence            : 12.10.2014
    3. Arrest of Accused No.2               : 25-02-2014
    4. Name of the complainant               : Sri. Sathish Anchalkar
    5. Date of commencement of trial : 10.10.2018
    6. Date of closing of evidence            : 28.01.2020
    7. Offences complained of                 : U/Sec.413 of IPC
    8. Opinion of the Judge                   : Accused No.2 found
                                                not guilty.
                             2                    SC.1629/2017



                    JUDGMENT

The Sub-Inspector of Police, H.A.L Police Station has submitted the charge sheet against accused No.1 and 2 for the offences punishable U/Secs.457, 380 and 413 of IPC.

2. The prosecution's case in brief is that on 12.10.2014 during night time the aforesaid accused No.1 has trespassed into the residential house of CW.2 Gnaneshwar bearing No.140, Karthik Nagar, NRDC ECHS Layout, Outer Ring Road, Doddanekundi, Bangalore City, by way of breaking open the lock of main door and has committed theft of silver items worth 1.4 kgs, cash of Rs.40,000/- and two laptops. Later, A-1 has delivered the said silver items to A-2 Ravi and that A-2 has received the said silver items for dealing knowing fully well that the said items are stolen properties and that later A-2 has sold the said silver items to CW.7 Hanumanthu @ Achari by saying that the said items are belonged to A-2. A-2 has encouraged the A-1 to commit theft. A-1 has sold two laptops to the passers by at K.R.Puram railway station for Rs.8,000/- and that he has used the said amount as well as cash of Rs.40,000/- for his self expenses. Therefore, it was alleged that A-1 has committed the offences punisahble U/Sec.457 and 380 of IPC and that 3 SC.1629/2017 A-1 & 2 have committed the offence punishable U/Sec.413 of IPC. Hence, the charge sheet.

3. After registration of this case, PW.4, the then P.S.I., of complainant police station has got arrested accused No.1 and 2 on 22.02.2015 and 25.02.2014 respectively and produced them before the Court of 10th A C.M.M., Bangalore. Thereafter, before committal of this case to the Sessions Court, accused No.1 and 2 were released on regular bail. Thereafter, A-1 has absconded and that therefore as per order dated 08.11.2017 of 10th A.C.M.M., Bangalore, split-up case in C.C.No.60239/2017 was registered against him. Thereafter, as per the order dated 08.11.2017 of the committal Court, the learned Magistrate has committed this case as against accused No.2 to the Sessions Court for trial. Thereafter this case was made over to this Court for trial.

4. After receipt of the case papers, as per order of this court, presence of A-2 was secured. This Court has released accused No.2 on bail as per order dated 24.03.2018. After hearing the arguments of both the sides, this Court has framed charge against the aforesaid accused person No.2 for the offence U/Sec.413 of IPC. It was read over and explained to him in Kannada language. The aforesaid accused No.2 has pleaded not guilty and claims to be tried.

5. Thereafter, the prosecution has got examined CW.1, CW.2, CW.10 and CW.11 as PW.'s.1 to PW.4. The prosecution has got marked 9 documents as Ex's.P.1 to Ex.P.9. Thereafter, the statement U/Sec.313 of Cr.P.C., of the aforesaid accused No.2 has been recorded. The aforesaid accused person has denied the incriminating evidence that appeared against him. He has submitted no defense evidence.

6. Heard the arguments of the learned Public Prosecutor for prosecution and learned counsel appearing for the accused.

7. Perused the charge sheet and evidence placed before the Court.

8. The points that arise for consideration are as follows :

1. Whether the prosecution proves beyond reasonable doubt that, knowingly fully well that, A-1 has stolen silver articles worth 1.4 kgs, A-2 habitually received or deals in the said property and thereby A-2 has committed an offence punishable U/Sec.413 of IPC ?

2. What Order ?

9. My findings on the above points are as under:

Point No.1 : In the Negative, Point No.2 : As per final order for the following:

REASONS

11. Point No.1 :- Allegation against accused No.2 is that, knowingly fully well that the silver articles worth 1.4 kgs were stolen by accused No.1, A-2 has received it and has sold the said property to CW.7 Hanumanthu @ Achari by saying that the said properties are all his properties. It was alleged that the A-2 is habitual receiver and deal in stolen properties.

This case has been registered based on the complaint marked as Ex.P.1 that submitted by CW.1 - Sathish Anchalkar on 12.10.2014 before the complainant police station at about 11.15 p.m. In the said complaint, CW.1 has stated that on 12.10.214 at about 10.52 p.m, his father-in-law Gnaneshwar had telephoned to him that there was a theft in his house that situated at No.140, Karthik Nagar, NRDC ECHS Layout, Outer Ring Road, Doddanekundi, Bangalore -

37. Thereafter, on the same day he had gone to the said house and saw that there was a theft of silver articles worth 1.4 kgs, cash of Rs.40,000/- and two laptops. Therefore, he has lodged complaint before the police requesting them to take suitable action.

12. Ex.P.1 discloses that after receipt of the said complaint, the then S.H.O Srinivas Reddy (PW.3) has registered the said complaint in Cr.No.755/2014 for the offences punishable U/Secs.454, 457 and 380 of IPC 6 SC.1629/2017 and has submitted F.I.R. marked as Ex.P.5 to the 10 th A.C.M.M., Bangalore, on 13.10.2014 at 11.00 a.m with the complaint marked as Ex.P.1. Ex.P.2 discloses that, on 13.10.2014, PW.4 Subramanya Swamy, the then P.S.I., of complainant police station in between 10.30 to 11.30 a.m, has prepared the spot mahazar in the presence of complainant and panchas Adinarayana and Ravichandra. Ex.P.3 photo of PW.2 with silver articles i.e., one pair of lamp and one silver plate. Ex.P.4, the statement of PW.2 Gnaneshwar discloses that after lodging of the complaint, on 27.02.2015, complainant police called him to the police station and shown one pair of silver lamp weighing 400 gms and one silver plate weighing 1 kg. At that time, police told to him that Murugesh @ Muruga @ Gajani has stolen the said items from his residential house on 12.10.2014 and the complainant police have recovered the said items from CW-7 Hanumanth as per the information given by A-2 Ravi, S/o Seenappa, r/o Saluhunase Village, Harohalli Hobli, Kanakapura Taluk, Ramanagara District. Ex.P.6 report of P.C.9895 Sathyanna of complainant police station discloses that, on 22.02.2015 at about 5.00 p.m he was deputed to trace the accused persons. On the same day at about 5.00 p.m near a pawn broker shop, Marathahalli Main Road, one person was trying to sell the chains which 7 SC.1629/2017 were looking like gold and silver chains. He got suspicion about the said person and that therefore he caught hold him and enquired him. He disclosed his name as Murugesh @ Muruga @ Gajani, resident of Bangarapet Taluk, Kolar District. Thereafter P.C.9895 brought the said accused person to the police station and produced him before the P.S.I with gold chain and silver leg chain. Ex.P.7 portion of the statement discloses that, A-1 has stated that he can show accused No.2 to whom he has given the stolen items. Ex.P.8 portion of the statement of A-2 discloses that he can return the articles that sold by him to CW-7. Ex.P.9 copy of the mahazar dated 27.02.2015 discloses that, the P.S.I of complainant police station has seized one pair of silver lamp weighing 400 gms and one silver plate weighing 1 kg and other gold and silver items as mentioned in the said document from the possession of CW-7 Sri.Hanumanth @ Achari at No.11/57, 1 st Cross, A.P. Road, Madivala, Bangalore City, as per the say of accused No.2 in the presence of panchas Rajesh.K and Sampath. With the background of Ex.P.1 to P.9, the oral evidence of PW'S.1 to PW.4 is analyzed to know whether the aforesaid accused No.2 has committed the alleged offence on the aforesaid date, time and place.

13. PW.1 Sathish Anchalchar during the course of his chief examination has deposed before the Court that during October 2014, his father-in-law Gnaneshwar had gone to North India tour. At that time on 12.10.2014, at about 10.30 p.m his father-in-law Gnaneshwar had telephoned to him and told that there was a theft in his residential house. Thereafter, he had gone to the residential house of his father-in-law that lies at H.S.R. Layout at about 11.00 p.m. Later his father in law had telephoned to HAL police station. Thereafter, HAL police came there. The main door was broke opened. The wardrobe and Almira doors also have been opened. Silver plate and small silver pot that kept in the pooja room , cash of Rs.40,000/- that kept in the wardrobe and two laptops were stolen. Thereafter, on the same day at about 11.20 p.m he had gone to HAL police station and lodged complaint as per Ex.P.1. Next day morning at about 10.30 a.m police came to the spot and prepared mahazar as per Ex.P.2. PW.1 has identified his signatures on Ex's.P.1 and P.2 as Ex.P.1(a) and P.2(a) respectively.

14. PW.2 Gnaneshwari, the father-in-law of the complainant has deposed before this Court that he had gone to North India tour along with his wife on 29.09.2014. At that time, he had locked his residential house bearing No.140, LRDE ECHS Layout, 9 SC.1629/2017 Karthiknagar, Doddanekundi, Bangalore. On 12.10.2014, at about 10.00 p.m watchman Basavaraju telephoned to him and told that there was theft in his residential house. Thereafter, he has intimated the said fact to PW.1 and requested him to verify truth ness of the said fact. Thereafter, PW.1 had gone to his house and found that the door lock of his house was broke opened and that somebody have committed theft of silver items weighing 1.4 kgs, cash of Rs.40,000/- and two laptops. Thereafter, he has requested the PW.1 to lodge complaint to the police. Thereafter, PW.1 had lodged complaint. On 23.10.2014, he had returned to Bangalore and verified his house and confirmed that one silver plate, one pair of silver lamps, cash of Rs.40,000/- and two laptops were stolen. He has made statement before the complainant police. On 27.02.2015, HAL police called him to the police station and shown one silver plate and two silver lamps. At that time police have not told the name of the person who had committed theft in his residential house. He had identified Ex.P.3 photo as the photo obtained at the time of giving interim custody of the silver plate and lamps to him. PW.2 is treated as hostile witness at the request of the prosecution. He was subjected to cross examination by the prosecution with permission. But, nothing is 10 SC.1629/2017 elicited in his cross examination that on 27.02.2015 at the time when he had gone to the complainant police station, PSI had intimated to him that A-1 Murugesh @ Muruga @ Gajani had committed theft in his house and that he has sold the said items through accused No.2. Nothing is elicited that he has stated as per Ex.P.4 to the complainant police on 27.02.2015.

15. PW.3 Srinivas Reddy, the then S.H.O of complainant police station has deposed that, on 12.10.2014 at about 11.15 p.m complainant Sathish Anchalkar came to the police station and has lodged complaint as per Ex.P.1. Thereafter, he registered Ex.P.1 complaint in Cr.No.755/2014 and has submitted FIR marked at Ex.P.5 to the 10 th A.C.M.M., Bangalore.

Thereafter, he delivered case dairy of this case to P.S.I Subramanya Swamy for further investigation.

16. PW.4 Subramanya Swamy has deposed that, he has conducted further investigation of this case on 13.10.2014. He has prepared mahazar as per Ex.P.2 in the residential house of PW.2 in the presence of PW.1 and panchas Adinarayana and Ravichandra in between 11 SC.1629/2017 10.30 to 11.30 a.m. He has deputed his staff Sathyanna and Hemanth Kumar to trace the accused persons. On 23.10.2014 he has recorded the statement of Gnaneshwar as per Ex.P.4. On 22.02.2015 he enquired accused Murugesh @ Muruga @ Gajani who was arrested in Cr.No.954/2014 of his police station. The said person was produced by his staff Sathyanna and Hemanth and submitted report as per Ex.P.6. Thereafter, on the same day he enquired accused Murugesh @ Muruga @ Gajani. He confessed that he has committed theft of silver articles and sold the said items through accused No.2 Ravi. He has deposed that, he can show the accused No.2. The portion of the statement of accused No.1 is marked as Ex.P.7. On 25.02.2014 he took accused No.1 to Salahunase Village. Accused No.1 took him to the house of accused No.2 and shown accused No.2 to the police. Thereafter, he enquired accused No.2. Accused No.2 confessed that he has sold the said silver plate and silver lamp by receiving from accused No.1 to one 12 SC.1629/2017 Hanumanthachari, the owner of Siddanatha Prasanna shop at Madivala for Rs.3,50,000/- and paid the said amout to accused No.1. accused No.1 paid Rs.30,000/-

to him. Accused No.2 told him that he can return the said item from the person who received the same. The portion of statement made by accused No.2 is marked as Ex.P.8. PW.4 has further deposed that, on 27.02.2015 he secured panchas Rajesh and Sampath to the police station. They agreed to act as panchas.

Thereafter he took them to the goldsmith shop of Hanumanthachari situated at No.11/57, 1st Cross, Madivala, Bangalore. In the said shop one person by name Hanumanthachai was present. Accused No.2 Ravi identified him and requested him to produce the gold and silver articles that sold by him. The said Hanumanthachari produced the said gold and silver items. Thereafter, he has recovered the said items by way of preparing mahazar as per Ex.P.9. Thereafter, on 23.10.2014 he called PW.2 Gnaneshwar to come to the police station and showed the said silver articles to 13 SC.1629/2017 him. Thereafter he returned the said silver articles to the interim custody of PW.2. At that time he has taken photo that marked as Ex.P.3. But the aforesaid evidence of PW.4 is not supported by the evidence of PW.2.

17. In spite of giving reasonable opportunities the prosecution agency failed to secure the presence of Rajesh and Sampath, the panchas for Ex.P.9 seizure mahazar for having seized one silver plate and one pair of silver lamp from the possession of CW.7 Hanumanthachari on 27.02.2015 as per the say of accused No.2. Therefore, it is very difficult to accepted that the accused No.2 has received the said silver item from accused No.1 and sold it to CW.7 as alleged. No acceptable evidence placed before the Court to show that accused No.2 is habitually dealing with property knowing fully well that the said properties are stolen properties. Therefore, it is clear that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case as alleged against accused No.2 beyond reasonable doubt. The 14 SC.1629/2017 evidence of PW's.1 and 2 is not helpful to the case of the prosecution. Therefore, Point No.1 is answered as in the Negative.

18. Point No.2 : In view of the discussion made above and the findings given on point No.1, I proceed to pass the following:

ORDER Acting U/Sec.235 of Cr.P.C., accused No.2 is acquitted for the offence punishable U/Sec.413 of the IPC.

Accused No.2 is set at liberty forthwith if he is not required in other case/s. His bail and surety bond stands cancelled.

Preserve the properties seized in this case till the disposal of the split-up case against accused No.1.

Interim custody of silver plate and one pair of silver lamp is made as absolute.

(Typed by the Stenographer on my dictation, the transcript revised and then pronounced by me in open court on this Friday the 13th day of March 2020).

(B.VENKATESHA) LXIII ADDL.CITY CIVIL & SESSIONS JUDGE, (CCH-64), BENGALURU CITY.

ANNEXURE

1. List of witnesses examined for the prosecution:

PW.1 : Sathish Anchalkar PW.2 : Gnaneshwar PW.3 : Srinivas Reddy PW.4 : Subramanya Swamy

2. List of witnesses examined for the accused:

- NIL-

3. List of documents marked for the prosecution:

      Ex.P.1      :       Complaint
      Ex.P.1(a)   :       Signature of PW.1
      Ex.P.1(b)   :       Signature of PW.3
      Ex.P.2      :       Spot mahazar
      Ex.P.2(a)   :       Signature of PW.1
      Ex.P.2(b)   :       Signature of PW.4
      Ex.P.3      :       Photo
      Ex.P.4      :       Statement of PW.2
      Ex.P.5      :       F.I.R.
      Ex.P.5(a)   :       Signature of PW.3
      Ex.P.6      :       Report of P.C.9895
      Ex.P.7      :       Portion of voluntary statement of A-1
      Ex.P.8      :       Portion of voluntary statement of A-2
      Ex.P.9      :       Seizure mahazar.

4. List of documents marked for the Accused:

- NIL-

5. Material object marked in this case:

-NIL-

(B.VENKATESHA) LXIII ADDL.CITY CIVIL & SESSIONS JUDGE, (CCH-64), BENGALURU CITY.