Allahabad High Court
Krishna vs State Of U.P. And Another on 3 August, 2023
Bench: Sadhna Rani (Thakur)
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:155768
Court No. - 84
Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 6817 of 2023
Appellant :- Krishna
Counsel for Appellant :- Mohammad Belal
Counsel for respondent:GA,Prashant Singh,Raj Deo Singh,Rajkumar Verma
Hon'ble Mrs. Sadhna Rani (Thakur),J.
Counter affidavit filed today is taken on record.
Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2 and perused the record.
This is an appeal against the judgment and order dated 09.06.2023 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge/ Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Hapur in Case Crime No.111 of 2023 under Sections 302, 201 and 120-B IPC and Section 3(2)(v) SC/ST Act, Police Station- Pilkhuwa, District- Hapur, whereby the bail application of theappellant-Krishna w/o Manoj was rejected.
As per the facts of the case a missing report dated 26.02.2023 was lodged by Pooja, the sister of deceased Sushil and a GD entry No.48 was made on the basis of this missing report. On the basis of this missing report during investigation, it was disclosed thatdead body of an unknown person was found in a drain. The inquest report regarding that dead body was prepared on 21.02.2023, on same date postmortem was also done and as per report, the death was found to be caused by strangulation. The viscera was preserved but viscera report has not been received till date. After the dead body was found to be of Sushil who was missing since 18.02.2023, missing report was converted into FIR on 10.03.2023
It is argued by the learned counsel for the appellant that there is no eye-witness of the incident. The first informant is also not an eye-witness of the incident. This is a case of circumstantial evidence where the chain of circumstances does not constitute any offence against theappellant. Admittedly, there is no charge of committing murder on appellant- Krishna. There is allegation of only hatching conspiracy of murder of Sushil against her. Nothing has been recovered at the instance of theappellant. She is languishing in jail since 16.03.2023. Hence, prayer is made accordingly.
Learned counsel for the opposite party No.2 opposed the prayer for bail and submitted that as per CDR report, this Krishna had several calls with Sher Singh and Sanjay on their mobile phones before and after the date of incident. She is the master mind of the incident and on her instigation only, this offence was committed.
It is replied by the learned counsel for the appellant that as per G.D. appended at page no.68 of the paper book, CDR shows that on the date of incident thisappellant had gone to meet her daughter at Sambhal. If as per CDR it is found that she was continuously in talking terms with Sanjay and Sher Singh during time/date of the incident, it is an admitted fact that Sanjay and Sher Singh used to meet Krishna often at her house, they were in friendly terms so the calls on the date of incident in their mobiles do not show that theappellant was involved in the murder of Sushil. It is further argued that there is only charge of sections 302, 201 and 120-B IPC and Section 3(2)(5) SC/ST Act against theappellant. There is no charge of Sections 302 IPC and 201 IPC directly against her. Hence a prayer was made accordingly.
From a perusal of the record, it is found that 27 years old deceased was having relations with an elderly women, Krishna, the presentappellant. Krishna left her husband and started living with Sushil. Sushil took loan of Rs.1,20,000/- for separate living with Krishna and this amount is said to have been spent by Krishna. During this span of time, Krishna is said to have developed some relations with one Sanjay also. It is stated that when Sushil came to know about this relationship, he scolded Krishna and started demanding his money back. As Krishna had already spent that money, she was unable to return that money. She also had an apprehension in her mind about her future that if Sushil would leave her, Sanjay is already a married person who would not keep her with him and her husband had already left her due to her relations with Sushil. As the money could not be returned to Sushil so a conspiracy of murder of Sushil is said to have been hatched between Krishna, Sanjay and Sher Singh and it is stated that as a consequence of this conspiracy Sushil was murdered and his dead body was found in a drain.
Admittedly, the allegation of murder is not on presentappellant. Nothing has been recovered at her instance. Except the confessional statement of the accused persons, nothing is prima facie said to be against the presentappellant on record. Her case is distinguishable from other two co-accused persons. Theappellant is languishing in jail since 16.03.2023.
In view of the above and having regard to the facts, circumstances of the case and keeping in view the evidence, complicity of accused, I am of the view that the appellant is entitled for bail.
Accordingly, this appeal is allowed and the impugned order dated 09.06.2023 rejecting the bail of the appellant is set aside.
Let the appellant- Krishna, who is involved in aforesaid crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions:-
1. The appellant will attend and co-operate in the trial proceedings pending before the court concerned on the dates fixed after release.
2. The appellant will not tamper with the witnesses.
3. The appellant will not indulge him in any illegal activities during the bail period.
The identity, status and residential proof of sureties will be verified by the court concerned and in case of breach of any of the above conditions, the trial court shall be at liberty to cancel the bail and send the appellant to prison.
It is clarified that the observations, if any, made in this order are strictly confined to the disposal of this bail application and must not be construed to have any reflection on the ultimate merits of the case.
Order Date :- 3.8.2023
P Kesari
