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After his retirement on 31st January, 1986, General Vaidya and his wife Bhanumati left Delhi for Pune. As their bungalow at Pune was still under construction, they shared bungalow No.20 at Queens Garden, Pune, occupied by Major General Y.K. Yadav. General Vaidya owned a Maruti Car bearing Registration No. DIB 1437 which reached Pune on the next day i.e. 1st February, 1986. Between 4th and 16th February, 1986 General Vaidya and his wife went to Goa for a brief holiday. They returned to Pune on 16th February, 1986. They continued to reside in the bungalow occupied by Major General Y.K. Yadav. General Vaidya was required to be hospitalised from 24th March to 7th April, 1986 as he was suspected to be suffering from jaundice. During his stay in bungalow No. 20, Queens Garden, two Police Sub-Inspectors were available on security duty, one for himself and another for Major General Yadav but after his discharge from the hospital and on their shifting to their bungalow at 47/3, Koregaon Park with effect from 26th May, 1986 only one armed Head Constable, Ram Chandra Kshirsagar, was on security duty with him. Although the name plate of General Vaidya was displayed on one of the two posts of the entrance gate to bungalow No. 20 at Queens Garden, no such name plate was displayed at bungalow No. 47/3, Koregaon Park.

In regard to the charge of conspiracy, forgery, etc. the prosecution case is that absconding accused Sukhi hired a flat sometime in October-November 1985 at 7, Antop Hill, Bombay. Thereafter he came to Pune and stayed in Dreamland Hotel in the assumed name of Rakesh Sharma. On January 26, 1986 he shifted to and registered himself as Ravindra Sharma in Hotel Gulmohar on the pretext that he was visiting the city for business purposes. He was accompanied by another person. They gave a false address that they were residents of 307, Om Apartments, Bombay. While in Pune an advertisement appeared in the local daily Maharashtra Herald offering a flat No. G-21, Salunke Vihar, Pune on hire. This flat was in the possession of Major A.K.Madan and he was desirous of letting it out to repay the instalments of the loan taken for meeting the construction cost of the said flat. He had entrusted this work of finding a suitable tenant to one V.R.Hallur and had given a Power of Attorney to him for that purpose. The said V.R.Hallur approached the Estate Agents Bhavar Sanghavi and disclosed that he was desirous of letting out the flat on a rent ranging between Rs. 1200 and Rs. 1500 with a deposit ranging between Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 15,000. The Estate Agents published an advertisement in the local newspaper Maharashtra Herald, in consequence whereof one person identifying himself as Ravindra Sharma approached the Estate Agent and finalised the deal by paying Rs. 15,000 in cash as deposit and agreeing to pay rent at the rate of Rs. 1500 per month and went on to pay advance rent for three months i.e. Rs. 4500 to the said V.R. Hallur. The deal was closed on 30th January, 1986. It is the prosecution case that this flat was fired as the conspirators needed an operational based in Pune to facilitate the killing of General Vaidya.

The facts of which we have given a brief resume make it crystal clear that broadly speaking the prosecution case has two elements, the first relating to the charge of criminal conspiracy and the various criminal acts done in furtherance thereof and the second relating to the actual murder of General Vaidya. The prosecution has also invoked sections 3 and 4 of TADA.

Now according to the prosecution as soon as it became known to the militant that General Vaidya planned to settle down at Pune after his retirement from Army service, wheels began to move to kill him as soon as the security cover available to him was reduced. The prosecution tendered evidence, both oral and documentary, to show that the conspiracy was hatched between 23rd January 1986 and 3rd May, 1986. The first step taken in this direction was to hire a flat in Block No. G-21, Salunke Vihar, Pune, to create an operational base to work out and implement the alleged criminal conspiracy. This flat was hired by one Ravindra Sharma whom the prosecution identifies as absconding accused Sukhi. Now according to the prosecution after acquiring this base, Sukhi left the country on 14th July, 1986 and did not participate further in the execution of the alleged conspiracy. Accused No.2 Nirmal Singh became privy to the conspiracy later on. To prove this part of the prosecution case evidence has been tendered to show that two persons Raj Kumar Sharma and Rakesh Sharma came and stayed in Hotel Dreamland, Pune, from 23rd to 26th January, 1986 and contacted various estate agents on telephone, including PW 20 B.D. Sanghvi, partner of M/s. Estate Corporation, Pune, with a view to hiring a flat in Pune. The absconding accused Sukhi, it is contended, had stayed in that hotel under assumed name of Rakesh Sharma. PW 3 Rajender Tulsi Pillai has been examined to show that thereafter the said accused Sukhi and his companion shifted to Hotel Gulmohar on the 26th at about 2.20 p.m. and stayed there till 10.00 a.m. of the 29th. Therefore, according to the prosecution Rakesh Sharma and Ravinder Sharma were one and the same person and the evidence of the handwriting expert PW 120 M.K. Kanbar establishes that the said person was none other than the absconding accused Sukhi. The entries identified as Q.3 and Q.4 from the register of Dreamland Hotel and Q.5 and Q.6 from the register of Gulmohar Hotel are, in the opinion of PW 120, to be of Sukhi. It is indeed true that while discussing this part of the prosecution evidence the learned trial judge has committed certain factual errors and has wrongly read the evidence as if PW 120 had opined that the said entries were made by accused No.1 Sukha. That is probably on account of similarity of names; he seems to have substituted Sukha for Sukhi. We have, however corrected this error while appreciating the prosecution evidence. But is must be remembered that because Sukhi had fled from the Country he could not be produced for identification by the hotel staff. No one has, therefore, identified him as Rakesh Sharma or Ravinder Sharma. The question of identity, therefore, rests solely on the evidence of the handwriting expert PW 120.

Then we come to the evidence of PW 20 B.D.Sanghvi and PW 22 G.H.Bhagchandani who figured in the transaction concerning the letting out of the G-21, Salunke Vihar flat at Pune, to one Ravinder Sharma. According to the prosecution this Ravinder Sharma had met PW 20 and it was PW 22 who had shown the flat to him. Both these witnesses had, therefore, an occasion to see Ravinder Sharma from close quarters. It was in their presence that the said Ravinder Sharma had signed the agreement to lease on 27th January, 1986. PW 104 V.R.Hallur, the Power of Attorney of Major Madan and PW 105 R.J.Kulkarni who has contacted PW 20 were also concerned with the said deal. The evidence of PW 65 D.B.Bhagve reveals that one Ravinder Sharma had purchased a bank draft of Rs. 15,000 from the Bank of Baroda, Pune, on 25th January, 1986 in the name of Neelam Madan. The lease documents are at Exh. 598 and 599. From the evidence of the aforestated witnesses it is established that a person who gave his name as Ravinder Sharma had contacted them for hiring the flat and the deal with finalised, payments were made and documents executed between the 24th and 27th January, 1986 at Pune. The question is who was this Ravinder Sharma? Once again there is no direct evidence regarding his identity but the prosecution places reliance on the opinion evidence of the handwriting expert PW 120 who has deposed that all these documents are in the handwriting of the absconding accused Sukhi.