Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

(11) Rakesh is said to have utilized the services of Lance Naik Jagdish Parshad Sharma (Public Witness 50) for contacting a Sivana at Deeg for a Ghat (WT)(proper or suitable time or period for a work or action, opportune moment vide A Dictionary of Urdu Classical Hindi and English by John T. Plats). They travelled in Dr. Jam's car Dlj 11 on September 29, 1973. It was driven by Daryao Singh, Dr. Jam's chauffeur. However, the Sivana had gone out of the village and was not available for consultation. They returned disappointed. Rakesh obtained leave from November 5 to November 24, 1973 through application (Exhibit Pi 87). The purpose disclosed was "wife expired" though the spouse of Rakesh was very much alive. This leave was got extended telegraphically for ten days (Exhibit Pi 84). The prosecution alleges that Rakesh had taken the leave for hiring assassins to kill Vidya Jain as conspired. Rakesh belongs to a village in Charkhi Dadri Police Station of Haryana. Ram Kisban (Public Witness 7) a young man of about 20 years, was working as a Mistri (motor mechanic) at Charkhi Dadri. On November 24, 1973 Rakesh brought Ram Kishan to Delhi on the pretext that his assistance was required for purchasings rings for the engine of his truck. Rakesh intended to use Ram Kishan, in fact, for Vidya Jam's murder. Rakesh had been hiring taxi Dly 544 owned by Dharam Vir Malhotra (Public Witness 3) for himself and Chandresh, and they had thus got acquainted with its driver, Ramji (Public Witness 1). In the course of their conversation over a cup of tea at York restaurant in the evening of November 26, 1973 Chandresh told Ram)i that she had arranged for one man to kill the wife of Dr. Jain whom she wanted to marry, and that his taxi was needed for 3 or 4 days in that connection. She promised to give Ramji a car as a gift as well as permanent employment if her plan was crowned with success. Ramji agreed to provide the taxi as desired. Rakesh tried to induce Ram Kishan to kill Vidya Jain with a rich reward and threatened him with the direst possible consequence, death, in the event of his leaving that job undone. Intimidated adequately, Ram Kishan put up a show of co-operation for some time and went to the extent of buying a knife from Ghaziabad as per Rakesh's directions. He was with Chandresh and Rakesh on November 28, 1973 when they went to Bhagwan Das (Public Witness 31), an astrologer, in the taxi driven by Ramji, for showing two horoscopes to him one of herself and the other alleged to be of Dr. Jain. Chandresh asked for the astrologer's prediction whether her friendship with the man to whom the second horoscope pertained could fructify into a marriage. Bhagwan Dass had his own reservations, however, because the man of Chandresh's dreams was already married. Instead of providing the encouragement desired of him, he told Chandresh, therefore, to come again sometime.Rakesh and Ramji brought Ra,m Kishan within a striking distance on a number of occasions but he allowed the prey to stay unhurt. He told them finally on December 1, 1973 that he would not do the job for all what they might do to him, and willy-nilly they let him off. In this way the second try of the conspirators to put an end to Vidya Jain's life also terminated in fiasco.

(21) Bhagwan Das (Public Witness 31) is employed in Special Police Establishment. Astrology is his hobby. He learnt it from his father who was a Hindi and Sanskrit teacher and cultivated astrology for his personal pleasure. Bhagwan Das deposes that Chandresh accompanied by Rakesh, another man who was in the uniform of a driver, and one more person of short stature, came to his house. Chandresh told him that she was carrying on friendship with some one and wanted to know whether this friendship would fructify into a marriage. When Bhagwan Das asked the name of the man whom she wante d to be her spouse, she replied that the name began with 'N'. On further enquiry she replied it could mean "Narayan, Nathu or Narender or anything of which the Rashi is Vrisiwchik". She gave out the age of her lover as '50 or 52 years' and stated that he was already married. Since Bhagwan Das had adopted astrology as a hobby and not for the lure of riches, he declined to make any predictions which would ruin the matrimonial life of someone else. Chandresh insisted that he should see the horoscopes and on their study he would be convinced that the said person (the wife of the man concerned in question) deserved to be discarded. She promised to come again on the next Sunday (i. e. December 2, 1973) to deliver the horoscopes. She visited him as promised and delivered horoscopes (Exhibits P131 and P132). On December 16, 1973 she came to Bhagwan Das's house with a police party when Bhagwan Das handed over the said horoscopes which were duly taken into possession by the police. It is contended that Bhagwan Das is no astrologer and the police trumped him up as such just to equip itself with an excuse for showing fa recoveries of the two horoscopes from his house. Simply because he is a police employee, it does not mean that his testimony must be rejected. Bhagwan Das joined service in Punjab in 1963 and came over to the C.B.I. in 1968. He is a mere dispatcher in the office of the Special Police Establishment and would prima facie appear to have no connection, whatsoever with the police agency which investigated this case. It was put to him that he was serving the C.I.A. (1) in 1968 and so was Dsp Harpal Singb, one of the investigating officers. The insinuation was that Bhagwan Das was under some compulsion to oblige the Deputy Superintendent of Police. Bhagwan Das replied that he had never seen the face of Dsp Harpal Singh. It is not uncommon that some government servants do cultivate and adopt a hobby. Homoeopathy and astrology are such like hobbies. A hobby, as its very meaning suggests, is not one's main, business but is a favorite subject or occupation. It is usually indulged in for the sake of one's mental satisfaction and pleasure, and not for making money. Bhagwan Das tells us that he practises astrology on Sundays for four hours or so and 40 to 50 persons come to consult him. Such a large number of visitors would indicate that he does enjoy some reputation of proficiency as an astrologer. An additional reason for making him popular may be his rendering free service. It is significant to note that not a single question was put to him to test his claim that he knew astrology well enough to attract so many persons. Chandresh had told Bhagwan Das that one Mohan of Hauz Qazi (the locality in, which she resides) had told her about him (Bhagwan. Das).

(40) According to the prosecution, after the bid to have Vidya Jain assassinated through Karan Singh aborted Rakesh decided to try Ram Kishan (PW 7), a teenager, who was working as a mechanic with Kirloskar & Company of Charkhi Dadri at a meagre salary (Rs. 220 or Rs. 230 p.m.) and was known to him, sometime in the last week of November, 1973. Rakesh asked Ram Kishan to accompany him to Delhi for the purchase of rings for the engine of his Mercedes truck. Ram Kishan demanded Rs. 10 per day in addition to his diet expenses and bus fare. These terms were readily accepted by Rakesh. Ram Kishan secured the necessary leave and they reached Delhi the next day at 4 P. M. and proceeded to Hauz Qazi from the bus stand. There Rakesh gave him Rs. 5 for his tea etc. and asked him to wait for him. After about half an hour Rakesh returned. He took Ram Kishan to Delhi Cantonment in a taxi and gave him a bed for the night in his room. The following morning Ram Kishan accompanied Rakesh to Hauz Qazi and was asked by Rakesh to wait for him. Rakesh returned after about an hour and paid Ram Kishan Rs. 40 telling him that he had no money for the purchase of the requisite spares and he would be going home to arrange for the funds. Ram Kishan was advised to spend the night in Rakesh's room and asked to meet him again in the morning at Hauz Qazi. Next day Ram Kishan reached Hauz Qazi by the earliest bus. Rakesh turned up at 2 P.M. and asked him to wait. After a short while Rakesh came back with Chandresh whom he introduced as his relation. Rakesh hired two cycle-rickshaws, one for himself and Chandresh, and the other for Ram Kishan. They proceeded to the 'New Vig restaurant' in Chandni Chowk where Ram Kishan was given a seat on the ground-floor whereas the other two went upstairs. After taking tea etc. Chandresh paid the bill and parted company. Rakesh and Ram Kishan left for the house of the former's relations in Company Bagh. Ram Kishan deposes that next morning they met Cndresh again at Hauz Qazi. Rakesh telephoned from a nearby tea shop and a taxi. Dly 544, arrived thereafter about half an hour. Ramji was driving and the owner of the car was sitting in it. Rakesh paid the fare for the taxi to its proprietor and all of them travelled from Hauz Qazi to Connaught Circus. After dropping the owner of the taxi in Connaught Circus, they went to the York restaurant. Rakesh and Chandresh took their seats on the first-floor while Ramji and Ram Kishan stayed on the ground-floor. Rakesh and Chandresh came down after about two hours. Chandresh then left by herself whereas Rakesh, Ramji and Ram Kishan went to Motia Khan. When they were back from Motia Khan, Rakesh told Ram Kishan that the purpose for bringing him to Delhi was not to buy the rings. He disclosed that Chandresh was a friend of a doctor and that she was to be enabled to marry him. To achieve that end, Ram Kishan was further informed, the Doctor's wife had to be killed and this job was to be done by him. In case he failed to do so he would not be able to reach back Dadri Rakesh warned him that he was a bad man and repeated the threat a number of times. At the same time Rakesh gave him the inducement that if the mission was fulfillled Ram Kishan would be given enough money. Ram Kishan pleaded time and again that he was a humble person and the task was beyond him. But Rakesh persisted in his threats. Being a meek person he (Ram Kishan) was frightened. Rakesh gave him Rs. 40/-, brought him to the bus stand, and instructed him to buy a knife from Raka's shop in Ghaziabad. The location of the shop was duly explained to him. Ram Kishan purchased the knife, as instructed, for Rs. 8/- and spent the night .in Delhi Cantonment in Rakesh's room. Ram Kishan goes on to state that the next morning he came to Hauz Qazi as advised where Chandresh and Rakesh met him. They went to a shop and telephoned from there. Ramji with his taxi arrived after about an hour. They drove to York restaurant. This time Ramji, Rakesh and Chandresh were accommodated on the first-floor while Ram Kishan got a seat on the ground-floor. Ram Kishan came out first, Ramji half an hour after him and Chandresh and Rakesh last of all. Chandresh then went away. Rakesh told Ram Kishan that they would be showing him the Doctor's Kothi. He was taken to the Doctor's house, No. D-291, defense Colony, and given an opportunity to have a good look at it. The car was then parked at a long distance from the Kothi and he was remainded that if he did not do the job he himself would have to die. He had, on his part, no intention to kill any one. He went to the Kothi and whiled away about half an hour. Rakesh and Ramji came back and rebuked him for having stood there quietly while she (meaning ostensibly the Doctor's wife) had left. Ram Kishan testifies further that from defense Colony he was taken to Hauz Qazi. Rakesh got out of the car and brought Chandresh. They paid another visit to the York restaurant. From there they went to a Jyotshi who lived in a 'Chaubara' in R. K. Puram. Chaadresh had a talk with 'the astrologer and the latter asked him to come again on Sunday. They returned to Connaught Place where Chandresh parted company with them. They then went to a Kothi at Barakhamba Road where Rakesh showed Ram Kishan the Doctor's shop. On the walls of the clinic there were photographs showing the Doctor shaking hands with the Rashtrapati. Rakesh brought these photographs to Ram Kishan's notice and pointed out that the Doctor was a big man and that there was no reason for him to feel panicky. Ram Kishan again told Rakesh that the job was impossible for him to handle. After coming downstairs Rakesh told the Doctor's driver, Chowdhury, that the Doctor would be operating upon Ram Kishan's mother's eyes and that he (Ram Kishan) would be spending the night at the Doctor's Kothi where a bed should be provided to him. Rakesh and Ramji then took him to a tea shop and warned him again that he would lose his life if he did not do their bidding. In the evening Rakesh left Ram Kishan with Chowdhury. Chowdhury suggested that he should sleep in the car, to that, however, he did not agree. He spent the night in Chowdhury's Kothri and had a sound sleep. Ram Kishan further deposes that he got up in the morning and decided to flee for his life. He travelled up to the Delite Cinema by a bus and then hired a scooter for the Bus Stand. However, Rakesh happened to see him when the scooter was passing through Hauz Qazi and shouted for him to stop. Rakesh dismissed the scooter, abused Ram Kishan hand brought him to a small Kothri. Ram Kishan touched his fleet and begged him to let him go. He spent the night, as dictated by Rakesh, at Ramji's house where he was scolded by the latter for his failings to accomplish the job. Ram Kishan held out a false assurance to finish the job. On the following morning Ramji gave him a slip of paper bearing the number of a telephone and instructed him to ring from Hauz Qazi in the name of Rakesh for a taxi being brought there. Ram Kishan rang up. But he received a reply from the other side that the taxi could not be sent. Then Rakesh set him and asked if the job had been done. He replied in the nagative and stated that he was incapable of doing it. Rakesh took him to Kapasheda where they spent the night. The next morning they came again to Hauz Qazi and met Chandresh. There was the usual telephone call and the arrival of the taxi with Ramji at its wheel. They came to the York restaurant where he (Ram Kishan) took his tea at the ground-floor while the other three went to the first-floor. Ram Kishan finished his tea and came out. The others emerged after about two hours. Chandresh then left them. They drove to the defense Colony. Near the Doctor's Kothi they (Rakesh and Ramji) again asked Ram Kishan to go and finish the job. Ram Kishan now told them that he could not do it and if they so wanted they could kill him. The taxi was then driven to Bhogal and there Ramji and Rakesh brought Kalyan Gupta. They had some talk amongst themselves and let Ram Kishan off. When he was leaving Rakesh threatened him that if he leaked out anything to anybody he (Rakesh) would be there to deal with him. Ram Kishan took a bus for Dadri and threw the knife which he had been carrying into a Nallah near Jhajhar. Rakesh met him on the 7th of the same month and told him that his stars had doomed him to break his head against steel scrap, that the job had already been done and that if he opened his lips to anyone about it he would not be left alive. He implored Rakesh to leave him alone urging that he had a small child to bring up and that he should not be involved in the matter unnecessarily. The police came to him on the 13th December at Dadri and brought him to Delhi. He was interrogated that very day and produced before a Magistrate on the 15th of the same month when his statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was recorded (Exhibit P29) (41) We would presently discuss the statement of Ramji (PW 1) in detail. It is to be noted that according to the approver when he went to Hauz Qazi for the collection of his dues along with his employer, Dharam Vir Malhotra, on November 27, 1973, he found that Rakesh Kaushik was accompanied by Chandresh Sharma and a young boy whose name he subsequently came to know as Ram Kishan. After Malhotra had parted company at Connaught Circus they proceeded to the York restaurant and took tea there. He also speaks of his driving Rakesh Kaushik and Ram Kishan to Motia Khan. They returned to the York restaurant after two hours and there Rakesh told Ram Kishan to kill Dr. Jain's wife because a marriage between Chandresh and Dr. Jain had to be brought about. It is again in his deposition that at 8-30 A.M. on November 28, 1973 when he met Chandresh and Rakesh in Chowk Hauz Qazi, Ram Kishan was present with them. Leaving Chandresh behind, he drove Rakesh and Ram Kishan to the defense Colony where Rakesh told Ram Kishan to kill Dr. Jain's wife. Ram Kishan was then armed with a long knife. Ram Kishan kept hanging around the Kothi and on his return he (the approver) brought Rakesh and Ram Kishan to Hauz Qazi. His testimony mentions another visit to the York restaurant, their return there from to Hauz Qazi for dropping Chandresh there and his driving Rakesh and Ram Kishan to 18 Barakhamba Road where Dr. Jain's clinic is situated. It is also stated by him that Rakesh and Ram Kishan went upstairs; come to back after a short while; Rakesh told Dr. Jain's chauffeur that Ram Kishan's mother's eyes were to be operated upon and that as per instructions of the Doctor, Ram Kishan be given a bed for the night at the Kothi. According to this witness also Rakesh and Ram Kishan proceeded there from to Hauz Qazi where Chandresh Joined them and they went to R. K. Puram to meet an astrologer. After some time he drove these persons to Hauz Qazi for leaving Chandresh there. They then came to his Jhuggi in Jangpura. His taxi was taken to the defense Colony for the second time at about 9 P.M. He stopped near D-291 where Rakesh told Ram Kishan to put up with the driver and kill the Doctor's wife. His version is further in accord with the statement of Ram Kishan as to his having come to his (Ramji's) house the next evening (November 29), his having scolded him for not committing the murder, and as to his giving Ram Kishan a bed for the night on the latter's assuring him that he would do the job the next day. Ramji testifies as to his instructing Ram Kishan on November 30. 1973 to telphone Malhotra by posing as Rakesh Kaushik from Hauz Qazi, Malhotra receiving a telephone call purporting to be from Rakesh, and Malhotra not sending the taxi to Hauz Qazi because the voice of the person asking for the taxi did not resemble that of Rakesh Kaushik. Ramji further testifies that when he took the taxi to Hauz Qazi on December 1, 1973 in compliance with the directions of Malhotra he found Chandresh, Rakesh and Ram Kishan there. He drove them to Connaught Circus, dropped Chandresh there and then took Rakesh and Ram Kishan to the defense Colony. The taxi was stopped at some distance from D-291 and both Rakesh and he himself brought a lot of pressure to bear on Ram Kishan to go and stay in front of D-291 and kill Dr. Jain's wife when she came out. Ram Kishan did go as directed and they waited for him for some time but when Ram Kishan came back he (Ramji) told Rakesh that Ram Kishan was not up to the job and that he (Ramji) would suggest another man who could do it. He then drove them to the house of Kalyan Gupta at Bhogal.