Delhi District Court
State vs Ramand @ Ram Babu & Ors. on 31 August, 2016
IN THE COURT OF Ms. VANDANA JAIN
ACMM-02 (CENTRAL) : DELHI
State Vs Ramand @ Ram Babu & Ors.
FIR No. : 48/86
U/s : 420/468/471/120-B IPC
Date of Institution :01.02.1988
Date of reserving of order : 29.08.2016
Date of announcement : 31.08.2016
Unique I. D. No. : 288598/16
JUDGMENT
1. Serial No. of the case : 4/1986 2. Name of the Complainant : S. ASI Chander Pal, Crime Branch 3. Date of incident : 13.02.1986
4. Name of accused persons : (1) Rajender Kumar S/o Des Raj R/o F-110, Gali No. 7, Mohan Garden, Uttam Nagar, Delhi (2) Devanand S/o Mool Chand R/o H. No. C-311, Nehru Vihar, Timarpur, Delhi.
(3) Ramanand @ Ram Babu (Since expired) (4) Askarn (Since expired) (5) Subhash (PO)
5. Offences : U/s 420/468/471 r.w. 120-B/120-B IPC.
FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 1 of 21
6. Plea of accused : Pleaded not guilty
7. Final Order : CONVICTED
8. Date of such Order : 31.08.2016.
BRIEF REASONS FOR SUCH DECISION:
1. The brief facts of the present case are that a secret information was received at the office of crime branch that one person namely Ramanand @ Ram Babu resident of H. No. 170-D, Kamla Nagar, Delhi was manufacturing fake certificates of school and colleges on taking money from the candidates. In order to apprehend the accused red handed, one Sunder Lal S/o Sh. Mukhtyiar Singh R/o Brijpuri near soap factory, PS Yamuna Vihar, Delhi was made ready as a bogus customer and he was directed to visit the house of accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu (since expired) and fix a deal of getting of pass certificate of 10 th class on which Sunder Lal visited the house of accused and asked for certificate which was fixed at the rate of Rs. 6000/- and accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu asked Sunder Lal to come on 13.02.1986. Accused Sunder Lal went to the house of the accused alongwith SI FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 2 of 21 Narender Gulati and rest of the staff of the raiding party stopped in the gali. After 10 minutes, at the indication of SI Narender Gulati they went inside the house of accused and Sunder Lal handed over a certificate issued from BDRS Inter College, Raja Rampur, Distt Etah, UP dated 01.07.1985 in the name of Sunder Lal and stated that accused was demanding Rs 600/- from him. The certificate was taken into possession. Accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu was arrested and FIR u/s 420/468/471 IPC was registered against accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu. During investigation, other accused persons namely Askaran, Subhash, Rajender and Devanand were also arrested who had got fake certificates from Ramanand @ Ram Babu. Askaran had expired during the trial of the present case and accused Subhash was declared proclaimed offender and Rajender and Devanand had faced trial and present judgment is being passed qua accused Rajender and Devanand. It is pertinent to mention here that the allegations qua accused Subhash and Askaran are not being discussed here with as they are not relevant against accused Rajender and Devanand.
2. The specific allegation against accused Devanand was that he had procured fake matriculation certificate of Board of School Education Haryana from accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu and had taken FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 3 of 21 employment as a constable in Delhi Police on the strength of the aforesaid fake certificate. Similarly, the charge against accused Rajender was that he had procured forged transfer certificate, 10 th certificate, intermediate certificate and character certificate in his name from accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu and had used these certificates for seeking admission in B.Com (Hons) in Gyan Devi Salwan College, Rajender Nagar and he got admission in B.Com (Hons) in the aforesaid college on the basis of the forged certificates.
3. Investigation was carried out by IO. After completion of investigation, chargesheet was filed. Accused persons were summoned. After compliance of section 207 Cr.P.C, charge u/s 468/471/420 r.w. Section 120- b IPC/120-B IPC was framed against both accused persons.
4. Thereafter, matter was listed for PE.
5. PW-1 Rajender Kumar S/o Dyal Chand independent witness stated nothing in the court.
6. PW-2 SI Zile Singh who joined investigation with IO ASI Chander Pal and disclosure statement of accused Rajender was recorded in his presence and specimen handwriting was also obtained by IO in his presence.
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7. PW-3 SL Mukhi, Sr Scientific Officer, proved his handwriting report.
8. PW-4 Daroga Singh also took the forged certificate from the accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu but he did not use the same.
9. PW-5 Shiv Prasad Khare, Assistant Secretary from the Board of High Court Intermediate Education at Allahabad, UP who gave a letter Ex PW5/A in respect of verification of accused Rajender and told that roll no. given was in the name of Dhanvender Pal and not in the name of Rajender Kumar in the year 1984 of the intermediate examination of year 1984.
10. PW-6 HC Lala Ram as a witness in respect of accused Askaran (since expired) and, therefore, is not relevant.
11. PW-7 JD Narang is also witness against accused Askran (since expired) and Subhash (PO) and, therefore, is not relevant.
12. PW-8 SI Yashpal, Duty Officer who recorded FIR.
13. PW-9 Sunder Lal who become a decoy customer and he facilitated the arrest of accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu by entering into a deal with him to provide him a fake matriculation certificate and when Ramanand @ Ram Babu provided him certificate, he was caught red handed by the police officials.
FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 5 of 21
14. PW-10 Kamal Kumar is also a separate candidate who had got a forged matriculation certificate from accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu but there is no evidence that he used the same.
15. PW-11 ASI Baljeet Singh was posted in 4 th Battalion and he handed over matriculation certificate and appointment letter of accused Devanand to ASI Chander Pal vide seizure memo Ex. PW11/C.
16. PW-12 Laxman Singh is also a candidate who took matriculation certificate from accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu which was seized by IO.
17. PW-13 Budhi Ballabh from Gyan Devi Salwan College handed over documents pertaining to accused Rajender to IO.
18. PW-14 Inspector Narender Gulati, accompanied Sunder Lal went to the house of the accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu on 13.2.1986 and in his presence, accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu handed over the fake matriculation certificate to Sunder Lal.
19. PW-15 Samai Ram was posted as Assistant in certificate section of Haryana Education Board, Bhiwani and he stated that matriculation certificate Ex. PW14/A in the name of Rajnder Kumar was not issued by Haryana Education Board, Bhiwani against roll number 12974. He also stated that Board did not issue matriculation certificate in the name of FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 6 of 21 Devanand against roll no. 43864 and both are forged certificates.
20. PW-16 Rishi Pal Mishra was posted as Assistant, Borad of Education, Bhiwani and he produced sample of matriculation certificate of Education Board, Bhiwani which is Ex. PW16/A.
21. PW-17 SI Chander Pal (inadvertently mentioned as PW-16) is IO of the present case who arrested Ramanand @ Ram Babu and conducted entire investigation and also arrested accused Rajender and Devanand.
22. PW-18 ASI Lala Ram (inadvertently mentioned as PW-17) is not relevant witness. He was witness in respect of accused Askaran who had expired.
23. PW-19 Ct Sunil Dutt (inadvertently mentioned as PW-18) he was posted at 4th Battalion. He joined investigation with ASI Chander Pal and handed over him original joining order dated 19.11.1983 of accused Devanand and also handed over verification report in the name of Devanand to IO.
24. PW-20 Naresh Bahadur Singh (inadvertently mentioned as PW-
19) from BDRS inter-college, Raja Rampur, Etah, UP stated that he did not join any investigation and police official did not make any enquiry from him.
FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 7 of 21
25. PW-21 Surender Vig (inadvertently mentioned as PW-20) Senior Assistant at Gyan Devi Salwan College, Rajender Nagar handed over letter dated 06.11.1986, application form of admission of accused Rajender, his character certificate, certificate of intermediate examination to ASI Chander Pal and IO seized the same vide seizure memo Ex. PW13/A. He also stated that accused Rajender had taken admission in their college in B.Com (Hons) and later on he transferred from B.Com (Hons) to B.A. (Pass). In the year 1985, he appeared in B.A. Part-1 of Delhi University from their college and was declared fail.
26. PW-22 Gopal Singh (inadvertently mentioned as PW-21) posted as Senior Assistant at District Inspector of Schools, Distt Etah, UP who stated that police officials of crime branch had come to their office in year 1986 and they showed him certain certificates which were not counter signed by his office. Some stamps of his office and impressions were taken by IO. IO also obtained specimen signature of Gajender Nath Tiwari, the then District Inspector of Schools Etah. IO also prepared seizure memo of specimen seal of "Zila Vidhyalaya Nirikshak Etah" IO also obtained two pages of th specimen print of seal "District Inspector of Schools Etah" in english and "Zila FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 8 of 21 Vidhyalya Nirishak Etah" in hindi
27. PW-23 (inadvertently mentioned as PW-22) Bansi Dhar Sakya posted as officiating principal of BDRS Inter College, Raja Rampur, Etah, UP stated that in the year 1986 police officials came to his school and enquired about the certificates and admission of some students namely Sunder Lal, Daroga Singh, Rajender Kumar and after verifiying it was found that aforesaid students including Rajender Kumar never studied in their college and stamp and signature of JK Nigam appearing on the documents were forged. He also stated that the impression of seal did not tally with the seal of their college and was forged. IO took specimen impression of the stamps of the college. He also identified signatures of JK Nigam and stated that signature on documents in the name of JK Nigam were not that of JK Nigam. He has further stated that SK Mishra and JB Singh were working as clerk and teacher in their school and were not posted as principal of the college.
28. PW-24 (inadvertently mentioned as PW-23) Kishan Pal Singh Chauhan posted as clerk in BDRS Inter college, Raja Rampur, Eath, UP deposed similar to PW-23 Bansi Dhar Sakya.
29. PW-25 (inadvertently mentioned as PW-24) Rattan Lal Gupta, FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 9 of 21 Superintendent at Haryana Vidhyalya Shiksha Board, Bhiwani in Certificate Section stated that police officials came to his office with regard to verification of matriculation certificates of Rajender having roll no. 12974 and Devanand having roll no. 43864 and he stated that certificates were forged and no such roll number had ever been issued to these students by Board of Education and roll number and certificates were forged.
30. Thereafter, PE was closed.
31. The matter was listed for SA. Statement of both accused persons were recorded separately on 03.08.2016 wherein they denied the allegations and stated that they have been falsely implicated in the present case and they did not wish to lead any defence evidence.
32. Thereafter matter was listed for final arguments.
33. Final arguments heard. Record perused.
34. Ld counsel for accused persons has argued that king pin of the present case was accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu and he had expired. He has further argued that accused persons Rajender and Devanand were innocent persons and no case is made out against them as it was Ramanand @ Ram Babu who has manufactured the fake documents and, therefore, both accused persons are entitled to FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 10 of 21 be acquitted.
35. Ld APP for State on the other hand argued that case has been proved against both accused persons beyond reasonable doubts and they be convicted as per law.
36. The case of the prosecution started from receiving of secret information that accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu is manufacturing and selling forged certificates of school and colleges at his house. The information was developed and PW-9 Sunder Lal was sent as a decoy customer to the house of the accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu who has expired now and he asked for matriculation certificate from him and the deal was fixed for a sum of Rs. 600/-. PW-9 Sunder Lal was asked to come on 13.02.1986 for getting the matriculation certificate by accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu and on 13.02.1986, PW-14 SI Narender Gulati went to the house of accused alongwith PW-9 Sunder Lal and bogus certificate was handed over to Sunder Lal by Ramanand @ Ram Babu and on indication by SI Narender Gulati, raiding team which was waiting downstairs came and arrested Ramanand @ Ram Babu while delivering the forged matriculation certificate to Sunder Lal. The forged marksheet is Ex PW9/D-1 and certificate PW9/D-3. Both were seized vide seizure memo Ex.
FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 11 of 21 PW9/7. IO/ASI Chanderpal also seized four rubber stamps of different colleges. He also led the IO to house of various persons to whom he had given forged certificates.
37. PW-9 Sunder Lal has not been cross examined either by accused Rajender Kumar or by accused Devanand. Similarly, PW-14 Narender Gulati has also not been cross examined either by accused Rajender Kumar or by Devanand. The testimony of both witnesses have remained unrebutted and uncontroverted and, therefore, have been proved beyond reasonable doubts. There is no reason to disbelieve their testimony as the documents which were seized has been proved on record.
38. During investigation accused Rajender was apprehended, the allegation against him is that he had sought admission in B.Com (Hons) in Gyan Devi Salwan College on the basis of the fake transfer certificate, matriculation certificate, intermediate certificate and character certificate. The allegation against accused Devanand is that he got employment in Delhi Police as constable on the basis of the forged matriculation certificate. The matriculation certificate was allegedly issued by Haryana Board of Education, Bhiwani and other certificates were allegedly issued by BDRS inter college, Etah, UP.
FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 12 of 21 These aforesaid documents of accused Rajender and Devanand have been proved by PW-15 Samai Ram, PW-22 Gopal Singh & PW- 23 Bansi Dhar Shakya to be forged. PW-15 Samai Ram posted as Assistant in Haryana Board of Education, Bhiwani has stated that matriculation certificate in the name of Rajender against roll no. 12974 was not issued from the Haryana Board of Education, Bhiwani and he had given a detailed description stating that in year 1980, roll numbers started from 1,00,001 and no matriculation certificate in the name of Rajender with roll number 12974 was issued from their board. As regards accused Devender, It is alleged that he has procured matriculation certificate from accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu which was allegedly issued by Haryana Board of Education, Bhiwani. PW-15 Samai Ram has made a similar statement with respect to matriculation certificate of Devanand stating that accused Devanand roll number 43864 do not exist which was mentioned on the matriculation certificate of the Devanand. He also stated that in September 1981, roll number started from 200001 to 2,30,000. PW- 15 Samai Ram further stated that matriculation certificate submitted by accused Rajender Kumar for admission in Gyan Devi Salwan College and matriculation certificate submitted by accused Devanand FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 13 of 21 seeking employment as constable in Delhi Police were forged and fabricated. The original sample of certificate was produced by PW-16 Rishi Ram Mishra, Assistant, Education Board, Bhiwani. It is worthwhile mentioning here that the original certificate is issued in Hindi by the Education Board, Bhiwani whereas the matriculation certificate produced by accused Ramanand here in enlgish. The matriculation certificate of accused Rajender and Devanand was also in english, meaning thereby, the same were also fake. It is further found during investigation that intermediate certificate, transfer certificate and character certificate of accused Rajender were also found to be forged. As regards intermediate and transfer certificate, PW-22 Gopal Singh & PW-23 Bansi Dhar Shakya had deposed that certificates allegedly issued by BDRS Inter college, Eath, Raja Rampur, Etah, UP were forged and were never issued from their college. It was also stated that impression of seals did not tally with the seal of their college and were found to be forged. The statement of of PW-22 Gopal Singh and PW-23 Bansi Dhar Shakya is further fortified by the statement of PW-3 SL Mukhi who is senior scientific officer and gave opinion on the stamp of BDRS inter-college on the intermediate certificate and transfer certificate of Rajender and he FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 14 of 21 opined that rubber stamp impression on the intermediate and transfer certificate of accused Rajender did not match with the specimen rubber stamp (original stamps of college) which was taken by ASI Chander Pal from the college as also stated by PW-22 Gopal Singh and PW-23 Bansi Dhar Shakya in their testimony. Further as regards Rajender Singh, PW-24 Kishan Pal Singh had stated that no student with the name of Rajender was found admitted in their college and signatures of JK Nigam appearing on the documents was also found to be forged. In the cross examination of PW-23 Kishan Pal Singh by accused Rajender, nothing could come out which could shake the testimony of PW-23. Further PW-11 ASI Baljeet Singh proved appointment letter given to accused Devanand Ex. PW11/B on the basis of matriculation certificate submitted by him which was found to be forged as per testimony of PW-15 Samai Ram. The verification letter submitted by him also found signature of accused Devanand and his handwriting matched with the specimen handwriting on it. Meaning thereby, he has filed wrong particulars in the verification letter Ex. PW18/B-1 for getting employment in Delhi Police and has furnished forged matriculation certificate for the same. He has also procured fake matriculation certificate with the help of FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 15 of 21 Ramanand @ Ram Babu for getting employment in Delhi Police.. PW-25 Rattan Lal Gupta also come in th witness box who was working as Superintendent in Haryana Vidhyalya Shiksha Board, Bhiwani and supported the prosecution version by stating that accused Rajender matriculation certificate having roll no. 12974 were fake. Police officials came to verify matriculation certificate of accused Rajender and Devanand and after verifying it was found that certificate and the roll numbers were forged and they were never issued to both accused persons. Since his examination in chief was deferred, his testimony cannot be read in evidence and can be discarded. PW-20 Surender Vig, Senior Assistant at Gyan Devi Salwan College entered the witness box and identified the application form for admission of accused Rajender alongwith character certificate, certificate of intermediate examination, transfer certificate and matriculation certificate submitted by him and he also stated that Rajender took admission in B.Com (Hons) and thereafter transferred to B.A. (Pass) and failed in B.A. (Pass) examination. During his cross examination, nothing could be found which could shake the credit worthiness of witness Surender Vig. Therefore, in these circumstances and backdrop of the discussion, I am of the FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 16 of 21 considered view that Rajender and Devanand had procured and used fake documents with help of Ramanand @ Ram Babu for the basis of getting admission in Gyan Devi Salwan College and employment in Delhi Police respectively, despite knowing that same were forged and ultimately got admission in the college and employment in Delhi Police. They hatched criminal conspiracy with Ramanand @ Ram Babu. Accused Rajender had deceived the college for getting a seat in place of eligible student for that seat and had used the forged documents for the purpose of cheating. Similarly, accused Devanand had deceived Delhi Police for getting employment in place of eligible candidate.
39. The using of forged documents by accused Rajender and Devanand despite knowing the same to be forged and bogus has been proved beyond reasonable doubts.
40. The definition of section 120-A is defined as under:-
"When two or more persons agree to do, or cause to be done-
(1) an illegal act, or (2) an act which is not illegal by illegal means, such an agreement is designated a criminal conspiracy:
Provided that no agreement except an agreement to commit an FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 17 of 21 offence shall amount to a criminal conspiracy unless some act besides the agreement is done by one or more parties to such agreement in pursuance thereof".
Section 120-B provides punishment of criminal conspiracy as under:-
(1) Whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death [imprisonment for life] or rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years or upwards, shall, where no express provision is made in this Code fur punishment of such a conspiracy, be punished in the same manner as if he had abetted such offence.
(2) Whoever, is a party to a criminal conspiracy other than a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable as aforesaid shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding six months, or with fine or with both".
41. Reliance in this regard is placed upon judgment titled as Mahavir Singh Vs State 2009 SC Del 2201 wherein it is observed that:-
" Proof of a criminal conspiracy by direct evidence is not easy to get and probably for this reason Section 10 of the Indian Evidence Act was enacted. It reads as under:-
"10. Things said or done by conspirator in reference to FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 18 of 21 common design.
Where there is reasonable ground to believe that two or more persons have conspired together to commit an offence or an actionable wrong, anything said, done or written by any one of such persons in reference to their common intention, after the time when such intention was first entertained by any one of them, is a relevant fact as against each of the persons believed to so conspiring, as well for the purpose of proving the existence of the conspiracy as for the purpose of showing that any such person was a party to it".
" The substantive section of the IPC i.e. Section 120-A adumbrated thereon Section 10 of the Indian Evidence Act give us the legislative provisions applicable to conspiracy and its proof".
It was also observed that:-
"Thus the proof of offence of conspiracy would require, in most cases, some kind of physical manifestation of agreement. The physical manifestations may not be proved by overt acts but may be evidenced by conscious acts or conduct of parties and reasonably clear to mark their concurrence. Where FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 19 of 21 evidence is clear, offence of conspiracy may be proved by necessary implications. Innocuous, innocent, or inadvertent acts and events should not enter the judicial verdict. Since more often than not, conspiracy would be proved on circumstantial evidence, four fundamental requirements as laid down as far back as in 1881 in the judgment reported 60 years later at the suggestion of Rt. Hon'ble Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru i.e. 1941 AIR ALJR 416, Queen Empress Vs Hoshhak may be re-emphasized:-
I. That the circumstances from which the conclusion is drawn be fully established;
II. That all the facts should be consistent with the hypothesis;
III. That the circumstances should be of a conclusive nature and tendency;
IV. That the circumstances should, by a moral certainty, actually exclude every hypothesis but the one proposed to be proved;"
42. In the light of aforesaid judgments, it is stated that criminal conspiracy was hatched by accused Rajender and Devanand separately with accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu in secrecy and FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 20 of 21 executed in darkness and there could not be any direct evidence for the same. The rubber stamps recovered from the accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu were present on the fake certificate of accused Rajender and Devanand and those stamps have been proved to be fake during the testimony of witnesses, meaning thereby accused Ramanand @ Ram Babu had given false certificate to accused Rajender & Devanand to use the same in getting admission in college and employment in Delhi Police respectively. Therefore, charge of criminal conspiracy also proved against accused Rajender as well as accused Devender.
43. Hence, both accused persons namely Rajender and Devanand are convicted for the charge framed for the offence u/s 420/468/471 read with Section 120-B IPC/120-B IPC.
44. Let they be heard on point of sentence.
Announced in the open court (VANDANA JAIN)
on 31.08.2016 ACMM-02/CENTRAL
DELHI
FIR No. 48/96, PS Roop Nagar, Page no. 21 of 21