Cr. Appeal (D.B.) Nos. 1045 of 2005 and 146 of 2006. Case: Santosh Kumar Chaurasia Vs The State of Jharkhand. Jharkhand High Court
| Case Number | Cr. Appeal (D.B.) Nos. 1045 of 2005 and 146 of 2006 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Saket Upadhyay, Advocate and For Respondents: T.N. Verma, A.P.P. |
| Judges | Rakesh Ranjan Prasad and Ravi Nath Verma, JJ. |
| Issue | Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) - Sections 313, 354, 354(3), 43; Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 8; Indian Penal Code 1860, (IPC) - Sections 302, 394 |
| Judgement Date | June 18, 2015 |
| Court | Jharkhand High Court |
Judgment:
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These two criminal appeals, arising out of the same case, were heard together and are being disposed of by the common judgment.
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Cr. Appeal (D.B.) No. 1045 of 2005 is directed against the judgment of conviction dated 23.7.2005 and the order of sentence dated 26.7.2005 passed by Additional Judicial Commissioner-II-cum-Special Judge-I, C.B.I. (AHD Scam), Ranchi in S.T. No. 252 of 2001, whereby and whereunder, the court having found the appellant guilty for committing murder of one Ira Roy and for committing robbery in her house convicted him for the offence punishable under Sections 302 and 394 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and further to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years for the offence under Section 394 of the Indian Penal Code. Both the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
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Cr. Appeal (D.B.) No. 146 of 2006 has been preferred by the State for enhancement of sentence from imprisonment of life to death sentence.
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The case of the prosecution is that Smt. Ira Roy, aged about 71 years, living alone in the 3rd Floor of her house situated at Bardwan Compound, Ranchi, was having one son living at Delhi and two daughters; one living at Kolkata and the other one Smt. Banani Verma-the informant (P.W. 16) living at Ranchi in other Mohalla along with her husband. The informant (P.W. 16) used to take care of her mother. Almost every day she used to have had talk with her mother in the morning and also in the night so that she could know that everything is fine. As usual, the informant (P.W. 16) talked to her mother at 10 am on 21.1.2000. In the night at 10 O'clock she again rang her but she did not get any response from her mother. She again and again tried but there was no response. Ultimately, she rang to one Shankar Chandra (P.W.7), who was residing as tenant in the 2nd Floor of the said house, and requested him to see her mother as to why she is not responding. After a while, Shankar Chandra (P.W.7) called back and told the informant that the door of the house is locked from outside. In the next morning i.e. 22.1.2000 the informant again rang but there was no response. Thereupon, the informant by taking her husband-Girija Shankar Verma (P.W.9) came to her mother's house which was found to be locked from outside. Thereafter, the informant came to the flat of Shankar Chandra and from there she called Devendu Mandal (P.W.10), a friend of her brother, to come immediately who came there at about 7 am and thereafter they broke open the door and when entered into the room, they found Mrs. Ira Roy, mother of the informant, lying dead, having multiple injuries on her person on the floor under the pool of blood. They found the entire room being ransacked. There one knife having blood mark over it was lying over the table. The informant found one portable colour Akai T.V., its remote control, stabilizer as well as printed bed sheet, which had been spread over the bed, missing. The informant talked to one Dr. Prabhat Kumar (P.W.4), an Acupressure Therapist, who used to come daily to the deceased for giving treatment at 4 O'clock. He informed that previous evening also he had gone to the house of the deceased and after giving treatment he had left home at about 4:30 pm.
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Meanwhile, when information was received at Lalpur Police Station that one lady has been killed at Burdwan Compound, entry was made to this effect in the station diary and the Officer In-charge, Indrashan Choudhary (P.W.19), as well as other police officers, including Vidhyawati Ohdar (P.W.18), came to the place of occurrence and recorded fard beyan (Ext. 6) of the informant-P.W. 16 at about 9:45 am on 22.1.2000 wherein she stated about the facts, as have been stated above, and raised suspicion against one Santosh Kumar Chourasia, an Electrician, who invariably used to come to the house of the deceased, as repairing as well as electrical works were going on since last several days. He used to have tea and breakfast there. He used to do small household works willingly. On such fard beyan, an FIR (Ext. 1) was drawn against unknown.
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The matter was taken up for investigation by Vidhyawati Ohdar (P.W.18) who was assisted by Indrashan Choudhary (P.W.19)-Officer In-charge of Lalpur Police Station including other police officers. During investigation, Investigating Officer seized knife, over which blood mark was there, a piece of white cloth having blood mark over it and an empty sachet of Gutka (Tiranga) from the place of occurrence under a seizure list (Ext. 8/4). Investigating Officer got the nails of all the fingers of the deceased cut and seized it under seizure list (Ext. 8/3).
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Thereupon, the Investigating Officer after holding inquest on the dead-body of the deceased-Ira Roy prepared an inquest report (Ext. 7) and sent the dead-body for postmortem examination which was conducted by Dr. Saroj Kumar-P.W.12 on 22.1.2000 at about 1:30 pm. Upon holding autopsy on the dead-body of the deceased, he found following injuries on the person of the deceased:--
Stab wounds:
i. 2 x 1/2 x 2 1/2 c.m., 1 1/2 x 1/2 x 2 c.m. On right forearm front.
ii. 1 1/2 x 1/2 x 2 c.m., 1 x 1/2 x 2 c.m. On right hand back.
iii. 1/2 x 1/2 x 1 c.m. On right palm.
iv. 2 x 1 x 3 c.m. On left temporal region.
v. 1 x 1/2 x 2 c.m., 1 x 1/2 x 1 1/2 c.m. On left side of forehead.
vi. 1 x 1/2 x 1 1/2 c.m. On left cheek.
vii. 1 x 1/2 x 11/2 c.m. seven in No. on right cheek.
viii. 1 x 1 1/2 x 2 c.m. On left breast.
ix. 2 x 1 x 3 c.m. and 1 1/2 x 1 x 3 c.m. On back of left chest.
x. 2 x 1 x 3 c.m. On back of right chest.
xi. 2 x 1 c.m. x cavity deep on left lateral abdomen. The weapon passed through abdominal wall and entered into left kidney.
xii. 2 x 1 c.m. x cavity deep on right chest front lower part. The weapon passed through chest wall cutting the costal cartilage and entered into liver.
Incised wound:
i. 4 x 1/2 c.m. x soft tissue on left hand back.
ii. 1 x 1/2 c.m. soft tissue, 2 x 1/2 c.m. x soft tissue on left forearm back.
iii. 1 x 1/2 c.m. x soft tissue on right side of chin.
iv. 1 x 1/2 c.m. x soft tissue, 1/2 x 1/2 c.m. x soft tissue and 1/2 x 1/4 c.m. x soft tissue on right lateral abdomen.
Presence of blood and blood clot was found in the abdominal cavity."
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The doctor issued postmortem examination report (Ext. 2) with an opinion that all the ante-mortem injuries were caused by sharp cutting-cum-pointed weapon on account of which death occurred due to shock and hemorrhage.
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On the same day i.e. on 22.1.2000 in the evening, Investigating Officer and the Officer In-charge as well as other police officers laid a raid at one electrical shop where suspect-Santosh Kumar Chaurasia was working. While the raiding party was asking about suspect-Santosh Kumar Chaurasia from one Rajesh (P.W.11), owner of the said electrical shop, he pointed out towards a boy who appeared to be somewhat perplexed. He made an attempt to flee from there but was arrested. When suspect-Santosh Kumar Chaurasia was interrogated, he confessed his guilt and also disclosed that he after washing off the blood from the knife had kept it over the table and had also thrown the empty sachet of Tiranga at the floor. He also disclosed that he had also stolen one Akai T.V., its remote, Stabilizer, towel, one paijama and kurta and wrapped it in a bed-sheet and has kept it in his room taken on rent. On such disclosure being made, said articles were recovered from the tenanted room of the appellant and were seized under Seizure List (Ext. 8). When the raiding party had arrested Santosh Kumar Chaurasia, they found injury over his cheek and hands and, therefore, the Investigating Officer got him examined by Dr. Y.K. Choudhary who on account of his death was not examined but the injury report, prepared by him, has been proved by Indradeo Prasad (P.W.15) as Ext. 5. The stolen articles, which had been recovered from the room of the appellant, were put on test identification...
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