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JUDGMENT G.P. Mathur, J.

Karamjit Singh has preferred this appeal against the judgment and order dated 2.2.1996 of the Designated Judge, New Delhi in Sessions Case No.140 of 1991, by which he was convicted under Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act and was sentenced to 5 years R.I. thereunder and was further convicted under Sections 3 and 5 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (hereinafter referred to as "the TADA") and was sentenced to 5 years R.I. and 5 years and six months R.I. respectively under the two counts. The sentences awarded to him were ordered to run concurrently.

Before examining the contentions raised by Shri K.B. Sinha, learned senior counsel for the appellant, it will be proper to briefly notice the evidence which has been adduced by the prosecution to sustain the charge levelled against the appellant. PW 11 Pratap Singh has deposed that he was posted as Inspector in CSS Branch, Operation Cell, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi, on 8.11.1990. On that day, a raid was organised by ACP, Shakti Singh, at the residence of the appellant Karamjit Singh, who was living in quarter no.B-12 of P.S. Mehrauli, as a secret information had been received that he was having explosives in his possession and was helping the terrorists by allowing them to stay at this residence. At about 8.30 a.m., the police party headed by ACP, Shakti Singh, started from Lodhi Colony office and went to Mehrauli. They kept a secret watch at the house of the appellant, which was locked. At about 11.30 a.m., the appellant came there along with his wife on a scooter. He was stopped and the raiding party disclosed their identity on which he tried to run away but he was overpowered. The appellant was asked to open the lock of his house, which he did and thereafter all of them went inside the house and found that a box was kept in the bedroom which was also locked. On the asking of ACP Shakti Singh, the appellant opened the lock of the box and it was found that a number of articles like explosives, detonators fitted with electric wires, time piece, pocket watch, wrenches, wires, soldering material, splinters, etc., details of have been given earlier were found there. The articles were sealed on the spot and a site plan was prepared. The witness has further deposed that thereafter he prepared a Rukka and after signing the same sent it to P.S. Mehrauli through PW2 Naresh, Constable, for registration of the case. The appellant also made disclosure statements on 9.11.1990 and 10.11.1990. After completing investigation, he sent papers for obtaining sanction from the concerned officers and after the same had been granted charge sheet was submitted against the appellant in Court. PW9 R.D. Pandey, Inspector, and PW10 Rajinder Prasad, Sub-Inspector were also posed in CSS Branch, Operation Cell, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi on 8.11.1990 and they were members of the raiding party headed by ACP Shakti Singh and they had also gone to the residence of the appellant. These two persons have given exactly similar statements as that of PW11 Pratap Singh and have deposed about the opening of the lock of the house and the opening of the lock of the box by the appellant and also recovery of the incriminating articles from there.

The appellant examined one witness in his defence, namely, DW1, Mukhtiar Singh, who is Surpanch of village Guddar Tadi, District Ferozepur. He deposed that Karamjit Singh belongs to his village and he knew him and also his family members for the last 40 years. The appellant had clean antecedents and he was never involved in any criminal case. We have given above the gist of the evidence which is available on the record. The fact that quarter no.B-12 in P.S. Mehrauli had been allotted to PW7 Didar Singh is proved by the statement of PW12 Ashok Kumar, Head Constable. Didar Singh has deposed that he had given the said quarter to the appellant and the appellant along with his wife was living there for about a month before the occurrence. It is important to note that Didar Singh is the father-in-law of the appellant and there is absolutely no reason why he would depose falsely to implicate his own son-in-law. It is, therefore, fully established that the appellant was residing in quarter no.B- 12, from where the recovery had been made. There is direct testimony of three witnesses, namely, PW9 R.D. Pandey, PW10 Rajinder Prasad and PW11 Pratap Singh that it was the appellant who opened the lock of his residential quarter and thereafter he opened the lock of the box, which was kept in the bedroom and from the said box considerable amount of incriminating articles which could be used for making bombs etc. were recovered. The testimony of these three witnesses is corroborated by the statement of PW2 Naresh, the driver of the vehicle on which they went from Operation Cell, Lodhi Colony to the quarter of the appellant in PS Mehrauli. No doubt he is not a witness of the recovery itself as he remained sitting in the vehicle but he does corroborate the testimony of the aforesaid three witnesses regarding the fact that some police personnel including the aforesaid three witnesses had gone to the quarter of the appellant in the morning of 8.11.1990. The testimony of PW3 Babu Khan, establishes the fact that the recovered articles were deposited as case property at Police Station Mehrauli by PW11 Pratap Singh. The testimony of these witnesses conclusively establishes the charge levelled against the appellant that he was keeping in his possession considerable amount of explosives and other materials which could be used for making a bomb. The defence witness examined by the appellant belongs to a village in District Ferozepur and he has merely deposed about the good character of the appellant. His testimony has no bearing on the factum of recovery made from the possession of the appellant and is thus of no assistance to him. The evidence on record, therefore, establishes the guilt of the appellant beyond any shadow of doubt.

Shri Sinha has next urged that PW5 Kartar Singh, SI of Operation Cell had admitted in his cross-examination that he had gone to P.S. Mehrauli in connection with some official work at about 10.00 a.m. on 8.11.1990 and had seen PW9, PW10 and PW11 and ACP Shakti Singh interrogating the appellant Karamjit Singh in the room of I.O. and this clearly contradicted the testimony of the prosecution witnesses that the appellant came at 11.30 a.m., opened the lock of the quarter and thereafter the recovery was made. According to learned counsel, the testimony of this witness completely shatters the prosecution case that the raiding party kept a watch on the locked premises and the appellant arrived at the scene only at 11.30 a.m. In our opinion the learned counsel has tried to make a mountain of a mole hill from a stray sentence in the cross-examination of the witness. In his examination-in-chief which was recorded on 21.5.1994 PW5 has not stated anything regarding the time when he saw the appellant being interrogated. He was cross-examined on 23.7.1994 i.e. nearly three years and 9 months after the incident. After such a long gap he may not be remembering the exact time when he reached the police station. PW11 Pratap Singh has clearly stated in his cross-examination that SI Kartar Singh had come to the Police Station in pursuance of a wireless message sent to the Operation Cell by ACP Shakti Singh and that he came after 3.30 4.00 p.m. Therefore, it is not at all possible to discard the testimony of the prosecution witnesses merely on account of a stray sentence appearing in the cross-examination of PW5.