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J U D G M E N T WITH CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 872 OF 2005 Ram Asre . Appellant Vs. State of U.T., Chandigarh . Respondent WITH CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1699 OF 2005 Sanjay . Appellant Vs. State of U.T., Chandigarh . Respondent S.B. SINHA, J. :

These appeals arising out of the same judgment were taken up for hearing together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. The appellants are rickshaw pullers. They were charged for committing murder of one Satish Kumar Mehra. He was a businessman. He used to run a proprietory firm known as M/s. Kala Udyog, Chandni Chowk, Delhi. The firm used to supply saris and other garments to the shopkeepers. He on or about 18.9.1999 came to Chandigarh to collect his dues from the businessmen to whom he had supplied saris. He visited the shop of one Pankaj Gulati in Sector 22-C, Chandigarh at about 7.30 p.m. on the same day. He allegedly prior thereto had collected a sum of Rs. 25,000/- in cash and a cheque amounting to Rs.40,000/- from M/s. Amarsons Shop situated in Sector 22, Chandigarh and also diverse sums from others including Praveen Gulati and Satish Kumar Gulati. He left for the bus stand to board a bus to reach Delhi. Praveen Gulati and Satish Kumar Gulatii, however, received a telephone call from Nirmal Mehra, brother of Satish Kumar Mehra, at about 11.30 a.m. that he had not reached Delhi. Praveen Gulati enquired about him from other dealers. When he was informed that Satish Kumar Mehra had not reached Delhi, he was requested to make a report in that behalf to police, pursuant whereto a report was made by him which was recorded as DDR No. 23 at about 7.20 p.m. on 19.9.1999. The SHO of the police station received a wireless message in the morning of 20.9.1999 that a dead body had been noticed behind the boundary wall of Udyog Bhawan, near the road of Sector 17/18. The Investigating Officer along with SI Janak Singh, ASI Hira Lal, ASI Harinder Singh, ASI Parmjit Kaur, Constable Pawan Kumar 161, Constable Paramjit Singh 439, Constable Jai Bhagwan 1556 reached the spot. It was found that the dead body of one person was lying in the ditch of water and his articles were seen nearby. The articles consisted of driving licence on which photo and address of the deceased Satish Kumar Mehra was noticed whereupon Praveen Gulati who had lodged the DDR No. 23 dated 19.9.1999 was sent for. Praveen Gulati identified the dead body as that of Satish Kumar Mehra. A First Information Report was thereupon lodged as against unknown for commission of an offence under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The brother of the deceased Nirmal Mehra also reached Chandigarh. He is also said to have identified the dead body of Satish Kumar Mehra. The appellants allegedly approached one Chander Prakash (PW-11) who is said to be a social worker. They had already told PW-11 that they believed that the police was on the look-out for them. According to him, they came in a rickshaw and sought for his help. While they were being taken to the police station by PW-11, the police party met them. They were arrested as they were said to have made extra-judicial confessions about their involvement in the crime before PW-11 . They made confessions while they were in the police custody. They are said to have made further confession which led to the alleged recovery of two rickshaws. The appellants were on the aforementioned basis put to trial. Before the learned Sessions Judge, apart from the traders from whom the deceased had collected the amount, the first informant and the brother of the deceased, inter alia three other witnesses were examined on behalf of the prosecution.

The specific case of the prosecution is that the DDR No. 23 was registered at 7.20 p.m. on 19.9.1999 at the instance of Praveen Gulati (PW-

16). The death of the deceased Satish Kumar Mehra evidently had occurred in the night of 18th September, 1999. From the evidence of the Investigating Officer-Inspector Moti Ram (PW-25), it appears that he received a wireless message at about 9.10 a.m. on 20.9.1999 that a dead body was seen lying near Udyog Bhavan, Sector 17, Chandigarh . He reached there along with other police officers. The articles belonging to the deceased were found scattered near the dead body. The articles included one driving licence. From the driving licence, he came to know of the name of the deceased and other details relating to his identification. Praveen Gulati thereafter was summoned at about 10.15 a.m. at the said place and he identified the dead body. A photographer was sent for who came and took the photographs of the deceased at about 12 o'clock. According to him, he remained at the place of occurrence upto 3.30 p.m. Before that, he must have sent the dead body for post-mortem examination. Dr. S.P. Sharma (PW-1) conducted the post-mortem on the dead body of the said deceased Satish Kumar Mehra at about 4.30 p.m. on 20.9.1999. The cause of death was said to be `aspaxia'. According to him, the possibility of the deceased dying 10 to 12 hours before conducting the autopsy cannot be ruled out.

It is really a matter of great surprise that even though the appellants had allegedly confessed their guilt, they would willingly be accompanying PW-11 to the police station. It is again a matter of surprise that they would be meeting the Investigating Officer on the way. We wonder as to how the said Chander Prakash (PW-11) could know that Inspector Moti Ram (PW-

25) was the Investigating Officer of the case. He did not say that the appellants gave a vivid description of the deceased so as to enable the said Chander Prakash to make a guess that the case related to the murder of Satish Kumar Mehra. It is also significant to note that as to what statements were made by the appellants by way of extra-judicial confessions had not been disclosed. It is wholly unlikely that all the three appellants would make a joint statement. PW-11 did not disclose as to whether any of the appellants made the statements before him or all of them gave statements one after the other.