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On 30-01-2000, the accused persons were arrested in Agra by P.W. 15- Police Inspector Navrang Singh, who was posted at police station of Sadar Bazar, Agra. P.W.-38 accompanied with Dy. Superintendent of Police P.W.29-Arvind Gawas, arrived at Agra on the same day. P.W.-15 informed them that A-1-Sanjay Thakran handed over a double barrel gun and A-2-Anjali Thakran took out and handed over a single barrel 12-bore gun from the cupboard. During the house search of the accused persons, police recovered a churidhar set, a ladies purse and some newspapers containing reports that were connected with investigation of the present case. According to the prosecution story, the recovered materials were identified by P.W.33-Subhash Nanda, father of Vikas and P.W.5- Kishen Valecha, brother of Priya as belonging to the deceased couple. P.W.38-Sandesh Chodankar, Sub-Inspector interrogated the accused persons and satisfied himself of their complicity in the crime. On 31-01-2000, he further obtained transit remand and custody of the accused couple. The accused were brought back to Goa on 01-02- 2000 and formally arrested in connection with the present case. On 08-02-2000, as alleged by prosecution, during the interrogation A-1-Sanjay Thakran disclosed to P.W. 38Sandesh Chodankar about the fact that murder of the deceased couple was committed by his wife and him and that the belongings of the deceased couple were present in his flat. On 11-02-2000, in presence of Court bailiff-Peter Fernandes and other panch witnesses, A-1 handed over jewellery from his flat B-2 F-3 at Sapna Residency, Colva. The jewellery, which was handed over to police, consisted of eight yellow metal bangles, one pair of ear-rings and one finger ring. As has been alleged by the prosecution side, he also produced clothes such as a white full-sleeves shirt, a saffron-coloured women's kameez with a cream-coloured salwar, a green-coloured saree with blouse, a light cream-coloured silken kurta pyjama and a designer black full-sleeves shirt, which belonged to the deceased couple. During interrogation, on 13-02-2000, A-2-Anjali Thakran allegedly disclosed [Exhibit No. 77] that she would point out the goldsmith to whom she had sold the gold ornaments. As per the directions of A-2-Anjali Thakran, a police party and panch witnesses reached the jewellery shop of P.W. 12-Ulhas Lotlikar at Khareband Margao. P.W.12-Ulhas Lotlikar produced two bangles bearing the identification mark 'RK 22 KL', weighing 23.5 grams. According to the prosecution case, the said bangles bearing the identification mark 'RK 22 KL' were gifted to the newly wed couple on their marriage by P.W.-33. The prosecution has alleged that A-2-Anjali Thakran sold these bangles along with a necklace and a ring to the jewellery shop run by P.W.-12. It has also been alleged by the prosecution that A-2- Anjali Thakran sold these jewellery on the pretext that as their restaurant was not running well, they were in urgent need of money. The learned Sessions Judge, Panaji, as well as the High Court on evaluation of the circumstantial evidence, came to the conclusion that the prosecution has failed to prove involvement of accused respondents in commission of the crime and acquitted them of all charges.

Admittedly, the case of the prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence as there is no evidence on record that any of the witnesses, examined by the prosecution, have seen actual commission of the crime. Mr. Mahendra Anand, the learned senior counsel for the appellant(s), to prove the case against A-1-Sanjay Thakran, has placed reliance on the following circumstances: the recovery of ladies purse and salwar suit by police at Agra on 30.01.2000 and the recovery of jewellery and clothes made from the flat of the accused persons in Goa on 11.02.2000 and the evidence of seen together with the deceased couple before the actual incident by P.W.30-Suhasini Govekar and evidence of P.W.11-Dinesh Adhikari, P.W.14-Calvert Gonsalves and P.W.6-Amit Banerjee to the effect that A-1 was accompanied with the deceased couple on 27.02.1999 and that the deceased couple was last seen alive in his company. As far as the evidence against the respondent A-2-Anjali Thakran is concerned, the learned senior counsel for the appellant(s) has relied upon the aspect of recovery of ladies purse and salwar suit; the recovery of two bangles bearing the identification mark 'RK 22 KL' at her instance from the jewellery shop of P.W.12-Ulhas Lotlikar; and the evidence of P.W.11- Dinesh Adhikari, P.W.14-Calvert Gonsalves and P.W.6-Amit Banerjee, that Anjali was last seen in the company of her husband with the deceased couple before the commission of the crime. The learned senior counsel for the appellant(s) has further submitted that no explanation is forthcoming from the accused respondents in the statement recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.) as to what has happened after they were seen in the company of the deceased couple, would indicate involvement of accused respondents in commission of the crime. The learned senior counsel for the appellant(s) has then pointed out that the chain of circumstances highlighted in the present case clearly establishes the fact that the accused couple did not only meet the deceased couple in Goa but they were the ones with whom the deceased persons were last seen alive. It has also been contended that the recovery of ladies purse and salwar suit from the house of accused couple at the time of their arrest in Agra on 30.01.2000; recovery of jewellery and clothes at the instance of A-1- Sanjay Thakran from the flat of accused persons in Goa on 11-02- 2000 and recovery of two bangles belonging to D-2-Priya Nanda bearing the identification mark 'RK 22 KL' at the instance of A-2-Anjali Thakran from the jewellery shop of P.W.12-Ulhas Lotlikar on 13-02- 2000, further substantiate that the accused couple, in order to carve away the belongings of the newly married couple, committed the offence of murder. It has also been pointed out that the High Court and the lower court have erred in (i) rejecting the evidence regarding the recovery of incriminating materials and (ii) not appreciating the key prosecution witnesses.

The panchnama of the search made on 17.12.1999 (Exhibit No.13) mentioned that after conducting the search, the door was closed and one old and two new locks were put on the door and they were sealed by a one-rupee coin as the court seal was not available. The court bailiff mentioned that he sealed three locks after the search was conducted by P.W.-38 on 17.12.1999.

After the arrest of A-1, this flat was once again searched on 11.2.2000 in the presence of another court bailiff Peter Fernandez and other panch witnesses as A1 allegedly confessed about the crime on 08.02.2000. According to the prosecution version, he agreed to handover the incriminating articles to the police. P.W.8- Sanjay Naik, a witness to the confession of A-1, was also present as panch witness when A-1 had allegedly handed over jewellery items, i.e., eight yellow metal bangles, one pair of ear-rings and one finger ring and clothes such as a white full-sleeves shirt, a saffron-coloured women's kameez with cream-coloured salwar, a green-coloured saree with blouses, a light cream-coloured silken kurta pyjama and a designer black full-sleeves shirt, on the search of the flat of the accused persons in Goa on 11.02.2000. This witness further said that the flat was locked and when the bailiff of the court tried to open the lock after breaking the seal it did not open and the key got damaged in the process of opening of the lock and the lock was opened by using a wire. P.W.-38 mentioned that on 11.02.2000 the flat was found sealed and was opened in the presence of the bailiff and panch witnesses. The panchnama of recovery made on 11.02.2000 (Exhibit No.34) mentioned that the bailiff of the court removed the seals and tried to open the locks with keys. According to this panchnama, one iron rod was used to open up the locks but instead of the locks, the latch of the door got broken. When the chain of latch was removed, it was found that the door was locked due to body lock. Since the door was locked, the grills of the window were removed and after removing the broken glasses, one person was lowered and finally entry was made in the flat. The courts below have rejected the evidence of recovery made on 11.02.2000 and they have found that the first list of the articles found in the flat as prepared on 17.12.1999 did not mention any box or gold-like materials/artificial jewellery or any other gold article or any clothes in the list of movable articles of the flat (Exhibit No.112). How is it that the articles were found in the subsequent search from the same flat which was locked and sealed? The panchnama of the flat searched on 17.12.1999 though mentioned about three big suitcases full of clothes and artificial jewellery, no details, whatsoever, regarding those articles were made and without any reference as to the quality of golden colour ornaments, P.W.-38 considered them as artificial jewellery. On both occasions when the search was made in the flat, it was not sealed properly with the court seal and, instead thereof, one- rupee and five-rupee coins were used. The entry in the flat on both occasions, i.e. on 17.12.1999 and 11.02.2000, was made through the window which shows that this flat was easily accessible although the seal of the court was put on it, without interfering with the seal after removing the grill of the window. There was material contradiction in the panchnama of flat search made on 11.02.2000 and evidence of P.W.-8 and P.W.-38 with respect to the way in which the entry was made to the flat of the accused persons on 11.02.2000. When at the first instance no jewellery was found inside the flat, how it was recovered on the subsequent search? The search and recovery of articles by the police on 11.02.2000 does not inspire confidence as the flat was easily accessible, without disturbing the lock and planting of the articles by the police cannot totally be ruled out. We have carefully gone through the evidence of the witnesses and the panchnamas and list of seized articles and have found that reasoning adopted by the courts below in discarding the evidence of seizure of articles from the flat of the accused persons cannot be said to be without any basis.

On the information received by the police, the accused persons were arrested at Agra and at the time of arrest on 30.01.2000, as per the prosecution, certain incriminating articles were seized from the accused couple at Agra. The police recovered the ladies purse and salwar suit from A-2-Anjali Thakran. These articles were put for Test Identification which was conducted in the presence of P.W.24- Vinayak S.N. Alornekar, Special Judicial Magistrate on 10.02.2000. During this T.I. Parade, P.W.5-Kishen Valecha, brother of deceased Priya Nanda, was unable to identify the salwar suit, but he had identified the ladies purse belonged to his sister and the reason given for identifying it was that she was carrying the same purse while leaving for Vaishnodevi after marriage. Another witness P.W.33- Subhash Nanda, identified both purse and salwar kameez as belonging to his daughter-in-law, Priya Nanda. In his cross- examination, P.W.-33 has mentioned that he identified the salwar kameez only from the colour and design and not from any other identification mark. He has admitted that same salwar suit and purse are available in the market. P.W.-5 has also admitted in his cross- examination that there was no distinctive mark on the purse. Identification of these articles have been disbelieved by the courts below and, in our opinion, rightly so. When the persons identified it, they did not have sufficient opportunity to see these articles used by the deceased for a long duration, and when the articles do not carry any distinctive marks, on the basis of which the articles can be distinguished from the similar articles which are easily accessible and available in the market, identification of the articles by the witnesses would be difficult to be believed. The recovery of these articles from the accused in the absence of their identification as belonging to the deceased, does not take the prosecution case any further. The learned senior counsel for the appellant(s) Mr. Mahendra Anand has placed reliance on the recovery of two bangles which had the identification mark 'RK 22 KL', weighing approximately 23.5. grams, from the shop of P.W.12-Ulhas Lotlikar at the instance of A-2. On 13.02.2000, during interrogation she disclosed that she would point out the goldsmith to whom the gold ornaments were sold. Accordingly, as per her directions, police party and panch witnesses approached the jewellery shop of P.W.-12 at Khareband, Margao. In presence of panchas, P.W.-12 produced the two bangles bearing identification mark 'RK 22 KL' , weighing 23.5. grams, before the police party. As per this witness, the accused came to his shop and sold two bangles, a necklace and a gold finger ring. When he asked for the reason as to why she was selling these ornaments, A-2 told him that their restaurant was not running well and hence, they were in urgent need of money. He paid Rs.12,400/-, Rs. 3,200/- and Rs.1,200/- respectively, for two bangles, a necklace and a gold finger ring. He did not melt the bangles since they were in good condition. As per the prosecution, these gold ornaments belonged to deceased Priya Nanda. During cross-examination, P.W.-12 volunteered to produce the book where he maintained the record of sale of these ornaments. However, inspite of ample opportunity given to him to produce the book, he did not do so. In his cross-examination, he admitted that a day before recovery, A-2 was shown to him in the office of Dy. Superintendent of Police, Mapusa. That apart, the police had not recovered the other ornaments alleged to have been sold by the accused to P.W.-12 as it is said that he had melted those ornaments. It is highly improbable that P.W.-12 would have retained the bangles, which have the distinctive mark over them and would have melted other ornaments with no distinctive marks on them. The whole purpose and authenticity of the recovery of these ornaments have been lost when the witness has admitted that a day ahead of the recovery the accused was shown to him in the police station. Another piece of evidence, on which the prosecution strongly relied, is of identification of the accused persons in the Test Identification parade on 07.02.2000. P.W.24-VSN Alornekar, Special Judicial Magistrate, Tiswadi and Bardez Talukas, conducted Test Identification parade, wherein P.W.6-Amit Banerjee, P.W.30-Suhasini Govekar and P.W.7- Ganpat , were the identifying witnesses. P.W.- 6 had identified both the accused persons as the persons who came with D-2 Priya Nanda to Hotel Seema on the night of 27.02.1999. The trial court as well as the High Court have found certain irregularities in the manner of conducting the identification parade. A- 1 and A-2 were placed in the same identification parade with 6 dummies each, which was contrary to Paragraph 16(2)(h) of the Criminal Manual issued by the High Court of Bombay, which mentioned that :