Vikram Rampal vs The State [Along With Criminal ...
2007 Latest Caselaw 695 Del

JUDGMENT

R.S. Sodhi, J.

1. Criminal Appeal Nos. 828 of 2002 and 519 of 1998 seek to challenge the judgment of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, New Delhi, in Sessions Case No. 38/97 arising out of F.I.R. No. 312 of 1990, Police Station Kotla Mubarak Pur, whereby the learned Judge vide his judgment dated 14.07.1998 has held both the appellants, Vikram Rampal and Vinod Kumar, guilty for offence punishable under Sections 302/34 IPC, 394/34 IPC as also under Section 342/34 IPC. The learned Judge by his order dated 21.07.1998 sentenced both the appellants to undergo life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- each, in default of payment of fine, simple imprisonment for fifteen days each under Section 302 IPC. They were further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years with a fine of Rs. 500/- and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for 15 days each for offence under Section 394/34 IPC and for offence under Section 342 IPC, they were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year each. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

2. Brief facts of the case, as have been noted by the learned Judge, are that:

...at H. No. J-37, N.D.S.E., Part-I, Ground Floor, deceased R.P. Tuli was living Along with his wife and daughter Ms.Komal Tuli on 23.10.1990. Deceased R.P. Tuli had a son and also a daughter-in-law, who were living in U.S.A. but were visiting at their house at Delhi sometimes. The deceased was a tenant in the said house. Ms. Komal Tuli, daughter of the deceased R.P. Tuli on the said date was working in the showroom of 'Titan watches' situated at South Extension, Part-I. She used to go to perform the duties at 10.30 a.m. She used to return at home for lunch at about 2 p.m. and then again return to house in the evening at about 7.30 p.m.

Ms. Komal Tuli on 23.10.1990 as usual in the evening returned to her house at about 7.25 p.m. She knocked the door as per routine. There was no response to her knock. She also rang up the bell. None responded for about a minutes. She felt that inside the house T.V. was on. After sometime, accused Vikram came from inside and opened the door. Accused Vikram represented Ms.Komal Tuli that the accused was the son of a friend of her father Sh. R.P. Tuli. Ms. Komal Tuli entered the house. When she reached the next door, she noticed another persons holding knife in his hand standing near the door of bathroom as if he was there as a watchman. The said another person was accused Vinod. Accused Vikram had his pant and shirt blood stained. When Ms.Komal Tuli reached inside the house, both the accused directed her to put off the ornaments which she was wearing which consisted of 2 gold rings, one gold chain, ear ring (gold). Ms. Komal Tuli handed over these articles of gold to the accused. After handing over articles, Ms.Komal Tuli inquired from accused whereabouts of her father. The accused represented that she would come to know of his father after 15/20 minutes. The accused inquired of her where ornaments and cash was kept in the house. Both the accused kept Ms. Komal Tuli Along with them and searched whole of the house. The accused went away after wearing the new jeans and shirt of her brother and also taken away ornaments of her mother with them. The accused also tied her limbs with the 'chunni' of her mother and also put a piece of cloth in her mouth. Ms. Komal Tuli got herself freed. Then she noticed that her father Shri R.P. Tuli was smeared with blood in the bathroom. She came out of the house and cried. Neighbours had collected there. One Sanjeev from telephone, from public call, informed the police regarding the murder vide DD report Ex. PW4/A. Police too arrived at the spot. Police removed the deceased to All India Institute of Medical Sciences where at about 9.25 p.m., he was declared brought dead on 23.10.1990. Thereafter, statement of Ms. Komal Tuli Ex. PW 2/A was recorded by Shri Suresh Chander, SI, PW-6 on 23.10.1990. He made an endorsement Ex. PW 6/A upon the same and recommended for he registration of a case under Section 392/397/302/34 IPC. A case under FIR Ex. PW 4/B was recorded. A copy of this said report was sent to the Ilaka Magistrate on the same night which was received at his residence at 5 a.m. on 24.10.1990. Investigation proceeded thereafter. During investigation, it was noticed by SI Suresh Chander on inspection of the site of crime that blood was in the bathroom of the house. He also noticed some pieces of chunni lying in the bedroom. Suresh Chander, SI collected sample of blood from bathroom and also the pieces of the chunni. He prepared memo Ex. PW 2/B of the blood lifted from the bathroom and a memo Ex. PW 2/C in respect of the pieces of chunni and a piece of cloth which he found there. The piece of cloth and the pieces of chunni had been produced on record as Ex. P1 to P3.

When the investigation were being done by Suresh Chander, SI, SHO Kotla Mubarakpur, Inspector Richpal Singh also reached at the site. He took the investigation in his hand. The dead body was transferred to the Mortuary of All India Institute of Medical Sciences after it was identified by the witness Rajiv Mehra.

Ms. Komal Tuli, the complainant submitted the list of articles which had been stolen Ex. PW2/D. Inspector Rich Pal Singh on 24.10.1990 went to All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He filled the inquest form Ex. PW8/B3. He wrote the application for postmortem Ex. PW8/B2 and also filled the form Ex. PW 8/B1. Brief facts Ex. PW 8/B4 were written by him. He recorded the statement of Shri R. Bhaskar and Rajiv Mehra Ex. PW 8/B6 and PW 1/K during the inquest proceedings. The postmortem was done by Doctor A.K. Tripathi. He noticed following injuries on the person of deceased Ram Prakash Tuli:

1. Laceration on the right side of the upper neck region of size 6 cm x 0.8 cm x muscle deep 7 cm above supra sternal notch region.

2. Contused laceration 1.4 cm x 0.6 cm midline of the neck region.

3. Contused laceration 1.2 cm x 0.4 cm on the right middle side of the injury No. 2.

4. Contused laceration 1.4 cm x 0.4 cm on the right side of the neck right to the injury No. 3. 4. Incised wound 3.5 cm x bonedeep on the right upper eyelid region (both angle acute).

5. Incised wound 3.5 cm x bone deep central of the sternum region (both angle acute).

6. Incised wound 3.5 cm on the left nipple region 5 cm lower and left to the injury No. 5 - both angle acute.

7. Incised wound 3.5 cm x 0.5 cm on the middle front of the right side of the chest (both angle acute).

8. Incised wound 3.5 cm on the right mid axillary region 8 cm away from the right upper extremities (both angle acute).

9. Incised wound on right nipple region 8 cm away right sternal border.

10. Incised wound 3.5 cm x 0.5 cm on the left vertebrate region.

11. Lacerated wound 3 cm on the base of the hand region going up to hyop thin region.

(Note : The injuries have been noted from the postmortem report as in the statement of Doctor D.N. Bhardwaj who deposed about the report, the injuries have not been recorded correctly.)

Dr. A.K. Tripathi opined that cause of the death in this case was due to shock and hemorrhage consequent upon multiple injuries. He gave the opinion that all the injuries were ante mortem fresh before death and were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The time since death was 15 to 16 hours.

Dr. A.K. Tripathi during postmortem preserved the blood sample of the deceased Along with his clothes, i.e., Kurta, Paijama and Banian which were entrusted to the police official Shri Suresh Chander which were taken in police possession vide Memo Ex. PW 6/G by the investigating officer SHO Richpal Singh.

During the proceedings of postmortem SHO Inspector Richpal Singh at about 11 a.m. on 24.10.1990 went in search of accused in the area of Karol Bagh Along with SI Joginder Singh, Ct. Devi Lal and other police officers. He met there Inspector Ashutosh Chatterjee at defense Colony at about 12 noon. Both the accused were noticed standing outside the shop of Vimal Jewellers at the instance of informer. Both the accused were arrested. Search of the pocket of accused Vikram was taken. In the right side pocket of the jeans which accused Vikram Rampal was wearing, in a polythene bag, 11 items of gold consisting of Mangal Sutra (gold) Ex. P-14, a pair of tops (gold) Ex. P-15, one bangle (gold) Ex. P-13, one ring (gold) Ex. P-16, one ring (gold) studded with blue stone Ex. P-17, one ordinary ring (gold) Ex. P-18, one pair of tops (gold) Ex. P-19, one pair of tops (gold) Ex. P-20, one piece (gold) (Om) Ex. P-21, one chain of white beads with golden beads Ex. P-22 and one pair of tops white and gold Ex. P-23 were recovered. These articles which were recovered were sealed in the same polythene bag after being wrapped in a piece of cloth and taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PW 5/A. Search of accused Vinod was also taken. From the left hand side of the pocket of accused Vinod, 9 articles were recovered including silver items. These items consisted of one bangle of silver Ex. P-4, one carrot silver Ex. P-5, one pair of paijeb Ex. P-10, one ring (silver) Ex. P- 9, one ring silver studded with a photo of 'sai baba' Ex. P-11, one ordinary ring (silver) Ex. P-8, 2 pairs of chutki (bitchia) (silver) Ex. P-12, one lady wrist watch make 'Titan' golden dial Ex. P-6, old one lady wrist watch Ex. P-7. These articles were taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PW 5/B.

Separate personal search memo of accused were prepared. In the personal search of accused Vikram a sum of Rs. 50/-, a key of 'Rekha Guest House' in an old purse were recovered. The purse Ex. P-24, currency notes Ex. P-25 and key Ex. P-26 had been produced on record. These articles were taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PW 5/C. In the personal search of accused Vinod a brown coloured old purse was recovered which contained currency notes of Rs. 15/- which were taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PW 5/D.

Thereafter, according to the case of the State accused Vikram Rampal was interviewed. The accused Vikram Rampal made a disclosure statement that the remaining articles of the theft had been kept by him at Rekha guest house room No. 10, Talimandi, Paharganj. The disclosure statement was reduced into writing. Ex. PW 5/E was prepared in this regard. It was also disclosed in Ex. pW 5/E that the dagger which was used in killing the deceased has been kept underneath the gadda duly wrapped in a shirt. The clothes which the accused was wearing and had been blood stained had also been kept in the said guest house. Regarding one gold chain the accused Vikram Rampal stated that the same was entrusted by him to his girl friend living in Janakpuri.

The accused Vinod Kumar was also interrogated. He also disclosed that the dagger used in the crime was kept in the shirt and was sealed and kept in room No. 14 at Rekha guest house. The clothes which he was wearing at the time of the crime was also kept in the guest house, situated opposite New Delhi Railway Station, Paharganj. Disclosure statement of accused Vinod Ex. PW 5/F was also reduced to writing.

On the basis of the disclosure statement of the accused, the police party according to the case of the State thereafter went to Talimandi, Paharganj Guest house. Smt. Lajwanti, the owner of the guest house was explained the circumstances. The accused Vikram Rampal opened the room with the key which was recovered from the possession of the accused. Inside the room there was a dressing table near the bed. In the presence of Shri Ashutosh Chatterji, S.I. Mahadev Singh and witness Lajwanti, the owner of the guest house, the accused pointed out a bag kept on the dressing table. In the said bag one 2-in-1 Ex. P- 27, one camera Ex. P-28 with cover, 4 audio cassettes Ex. P-29 (collectively), one spray scent Ex. P-30 with cover, one imparted soap Ex. P-31 with cover and another bag which was containing artificial jewellery consisting of three bangles Ex. P-32, one Wax (Lakh) bangle Ex. P-45, one artificial cuffling Ex. P- 35, one tiepin Ex. P-48, one mala Ex. P-46 were recovered. The bag Ex. P-49 contained the articles. One small thali Ex. P-50 containing two foreign coins Ex. P-33 were also found in the said thali. The bag also contained three shirt full sleeves made in Hongkong, one half sleeve shirt made in England were found vide Ex. PW 35/1 to Ex. PW 35/4.

Another bag was noticed from the dressing table. It contained Whisky bottle and wine of import quality Ex.P.37 and Ex.P38. Underneath the table another polythene bag was noticed. It was found to contain clothes duly washed consisting of one jacket containing blood stains, one banian and one pair of pant containing blood dots, one banian and one pair of gloves. They are ex.P39 to Ex.P42.

The accused Vinod got recovered the daggar kept in underneath the pillow wrapped in a shirt. The daggar Ex.P43 and shirt is Ex.P44. The sketch of the daggar was prepared vide Ex.P.W.3/C and was taken into police possession vide memo Ex.P.W.3/B after sealing with the seal impression of RPS. The bag and the shirts were sealed. Guest house register was checked. At Sr. No. 14414 at 9.15 p.m. on 23/10/90 the names of the accused were noted. The original register of the Rekha guest house was taken into police possession. The state claimed that the said register was signed by accused Vikram Rampal as K.Khanna while accused Vinod had signed as Awasthy. The register Ex.P.W.3/E was taken into police possession vide memo Ex.P.W.3/D.

The police party after completing the search at Rekha guest house returned to the police station at 11.20 p.m. The accused were kept in muffled face. The exhibit so collected at Karol Bagh and Rekha guest house were deposited in the malkhana of the police station. A site plan of the room of the Rekha guest house was prepared.

On 25/10/90 the accused were produced before the Magistrate for holding the Test Identification Parade. The accused refused to join the Test Identification Parade before Smt.R.Kirannath the Metropolitan Magistrate. The accused were thereafter shown to Ms.Kamal Tuli on 26/10/90 at the lock up of the police station defense Colony where both the accused were identified. On identification of the accused shoes Ex.P36 of accused were taken into police possession vide memo - Ex.P.W.6/F.

On 29/10/90 the specimen handwriting of the accused were taken for comparison with the writing in the register.

On 16/11/90 the case property was taken before the Magistrate for identification. On 19.11.90 the post mortem report was brought from the hospital. The sample blood duly sealed and the clothes of the deceased duly sealed were also brought which were taken into police possession vide Ex.P.w.6/B. On 23/10/90 Exhibits were sent to the laboratory from where the report Ex.PX, PY, PZ, PZ1 and PZ2 had been obtained.

3. The prosecution in order to establish its case, examined PW-1, Wing Commander Sh. R. Bhaskar, who identified the dead body of the deceased at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences on 24.10.1990. PW-2, Komal Tuli, is the eye-witness while PW-3, Lajwanti, was examined as the owner of Rekha Guest House. PW-4, Head Constable Virender Parkash, recorded information Exhibit PW 4/A as also F.I.R. Exhibit PW 4/B. PW-5, Narender Pal Singh, took the special report to the Illaka Magistrate on the night of 23/24.10.1990. Also as PW-5, S.I. Mahabir Singh has been examined, who was the witness to the arrest of the accused. PW-6, Suresh Chand, was Investigating Officer to whom report Exhibit PW 4/A was entrusted. It was he who recorded the statement of Komal Tuli which found the basis of the F.I.R. Exhibit PW 4/B. This witness also proved site plan Exhibit PW 6/B. He also narrated the various steps taken by him during the investigation. PW-7, Inspector Devender Singh, prepared the site plan while PW- 8, Dr. D.K. Bhardwaj, conducted the postmortem on the deceased. PW-9, Dr. S.K. Gupta, proved the MLC prepared by Dr. N. Bhullar Exhibit PW 9/A. PW-10, S.I. Yogender Singh, is a witness to the recovery of the shoes of the accused vide memo, Exhibit PW 6/F. PW-12, Constable Basanta Ram, deposited articles for examination before the CFSL with seals intact while PW-13, Retired S.I. Ram Kumar, is a witness to the taking of the handwriting of the accused, S-1 to S- 12. PW-14, Smt. R. Kiran Nath, is the Metropolitan Magistrate before whom the accused refused to join identification proceedings. PW-15, Smt. Sangeeta Dhingra, is the Metropolitan Magistrate who passed orders on application Exhibit PW 14/A to hold the Test Identification Parade. PW-20, Balbir Singh, Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, held the proceedings of identification of articles which were identified by Komal Tuli.

4. It is contended before us by learned Counsel for the appellants that the testimony of Komal Tuli should not be given any importance for reasons that her behavior does not appear to be natural. It is contended that when Miss Tuli states that upon her entering the house she saw Vikram Rampal, who had blood stains on his clothes, should not have entered the house but raised an alarm, yet she entered the house and thereafter saw accused Vinod Kumar with a dagger in his hand. The conduct, according to counsel, shows that statement of Komal Tuli is an afterthought and well deliberated. He also contends that the testimony of Komal Tuli to the effect that the knife held by accused Vinod Kumar was not blood stained, stands contradicted by the police version to the effect that on recovery the knife was found blood stained. He also contends that the recovery of articles of theft, recovered from the accused, were planted and do not inspire confidence.

5. We have heard learned Counsel for the parties and have carefully gone through the material placed before us. From the testimony of Komal Tuli, there is nothing that should lead us to believe that she is an unnatural witness. She deposes that at the relevant time, she used to reside in the ground floor of premises J-37, N.D.S.E., Part-I, New Delhi, along with her parents as tenants. She was employed with the 'Titan watches' at South Extension, Part-I, New Delhi. Her duty hours began from 10.30 a.m., at lunch, she would come home, return to duty and be relieved at about 7.30 p.m. When she returned back on 23.10.1990, there was no response to her knocking at the main door. She heard the television blaring from within the house and rang the bell. A young man stepped out from the door who identified himself as her father's friend who had asked him to open the door. She had not seen him earlier and did not know him. She entered her house and near the entry of the next room, saw another person having a knife in his hand. He was standing near the bathroom door. She identified the accused Vinod Kumar as being a person holding the knife. Soon thereafter, Vikram Rampal put his hand over her mouth preventing her from raising an alarm. They took her towards her room and directed her to handover the ornaments she was wearing which she did. She enquired as to where her father was and was told that she would find out shortly. The witness's hand and feet were bound while a piece of cloth was stuffed into her mouth. She was told that she would be allowed to see her father if she discloses the location of the jewellery in the house. She was taken to the room of her parents where she saw things lying scattered. They again searched the room. Accused Vinod Kumar stood guard holding a knife in his hand and warned her that if someone came, she would be killed. The accused thereafter opened the locker of her sister-in-law and took out jewellery from it. The accused opened all the boxes, almirahs, trunks and bags, collected whatever they could and left, after accused Vikram Rampal had changed his clothes as the same had blood stains on them. He took his clothes along with him. She deposes that the entire incident in her presence took about an hour and a half. After the accused had left, the witness crawled towards the bathroom and saw her father lying in a pool of blood. She raised an alarm. The neighbours collected and someone informed the police. He legs were untied by some person from the neighborhood.

6. Analyzing the deposition of this witness, there is no doubt that she had seen the persons who were in the house where the murder of her father had taken place. Those persons were in the process of ransacking the house for the purpose of collecting booty. In the process, they immobilized the witness, collected what they could and decamped. The accused persons were correctly identified by this witness in Court while she identified accused Vikram Rampal from the photograph shown to her at the police station from the police file, shortly after she had lodged the F.I.R. Further, at the arrest of the accused persons, large quantity of jewellery was recovered from their possession which jewellery was then identified by Komal Tuli in Test Identification Parade to be those belonging to her family. This material in itself is sufficient to dispel any doubt that the appellants before us were those who had committed the murder of Shri R.P. Tuli on the fateful night and further decamped with articles belonging to Tuli's which were later recovered from them or at their instance. The criticism regarding Komal Tuli's instant reactions cannot be said to be unnatural as she did not suspect any foul play when she walked into her house. It was only when she was entering the second room of her house that she saw the person with a knife and thereafter her reactions appeared to be perfectly normal. We find no exaggeration in her statement nor is there anything on record to show that Komal Tuli had any ulterior motive to implicate the accused persons or that she would substitute the real killers with the appellants.

7. The trial court has placed reliance on the statement of Komal Tuli and we find no error in the reasoning of the trial court. We, on reanalysis of the material placed before us, have also come to the conclusion that Komal Tuli is a reliable witness. Her testimony together with the recoveries from the accused persons leave no manner of doubt that the trial court has correctly analyzed the material before it to arrive at its conclusion, which we support.

8. Consequently, we find no infirmity in the judgment of conviction dated 14.07.1998 as also the order on sentence dated 21.07.1998 and uphold the same. Criminal Appeal Nos. 828 of 2002 and 519 of 1998 are dismissed.