Madhya Pradesh High Court
Nana vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 2 August, 2024
Author: Vijay Kumar Shukla
Bench: Vijay Kumar Shukla
1 CRA-3117-2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT INDORE
CRA No. 3117 of 2022
(NANA Vs THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS )
Dated : 02-08-2024
Shri Yogesh Kumar Gupta, learned counsel for the appellant.
Shri Tarun Pagare, learned Public Prosecutor for the respondent/State.
Heard on I.A No.8157/2024 , which is second application under Section
389(1) of Cr.P.C for grant of suspension of sentence filed on behalf of appellant
Nana Kahar. The first application for suspension of sentence of jail sentence was
dismissed by order dated 7/9/2022 on merit.
The appellant has been convicted under Section 302, 396 of IPC and
sentenced to undergo life imprisonment, life imprisonment with fine of Rs.5,000/-,
Rs.5000/- with default stipulation.
2. The present application is filed mainly on the ground that after the
rejection of application of the present appellant, the co-convict
Harsh@Ghanshyam was granted suspension of jail sentence by order dated
10/1/2024 passed in Cr.A No.6254/2022.
3. As per prosecution story, on the intervening night of 25-26 June 2018 at
2:00 AM, appellant "Nana" with his companion Harsh @ Ghanshyam s/o
Sadashiv Verma and four other juvenile delinquents committed robbery of money
and in that course, they committed the murder of Ramesh. On 26/06/2018 on the
information given by "Bada Hukum"(PW-11) Marg intimation No.56/18(ExP-22)
u/s 174 of Cr.P.C was registered and during Marg enquiry statements of witnesses
were recorded and Panchnama of the dead body (ExP-2) was prepared in presence
of witnesses, the dead body of deceased was identified as Ramesh s/o Kanha. The
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autopsy was done by Dr. Vikram Raghuvanshi (PW-10) and he opined that the
cause of death was "Shock and Hemorrhage as a result of stab injury to vital
organs- heart and stomach", and PM Report (ExP-19) was prepared. After Marg
enquiry, F.I.R. (ExP-26) was registered at Crime No.460/2018 u/s 302 and 397 of
I.P.C., against unknown persons. During the investigation, the appellant, other co-
accused Harsh @ Ghanshyam, and other four Juvenile delinquents were arrested
and their disclosure statements were recorded. As per disclosure statements blood-
stained knives, clothes, and looted property were seized. After completion of the
investigation, a charge sheet was filed against the appellant and one another
accused Harsh @ Ghanshyam u/s 302, 397, 396, 201 of I.P.C. and section 3(2) (v)
of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act before the Special Judge, The Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, District- Ujjain
and separate charge-sheet was filed before Juvenile Justice Board against the
juvenile delinquents. The Learned trial court framed the charges under Sections
302 in alternate 302/34 read with section 3(2)(v) of SC/ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act and section 396/397 of IPC read with section 3(2)(v) of SC/ST
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the appellant and other accused person,
which the appellant and co-accused denied and pleaded for trial and took the plea
that they are innocent. After evaluating the evidence that came on record, the
Learned trial court convicted the present appellant and co-accused person Harsh @
Ghanshyam for the aforementioned offences and sentenced as mentioned herein
above. Being aggrieved by the said judgment of conviction and sentence, the
appellant has filed this criminal appeal before this Court.
4. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the judgment of the
learned trial court is against the law so it may be set aside. In the present case, all
the eyewitnesses are hostile and the complete chain of circumstances is also
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missing. Initially, the F.I.R. was registered against unknown persons. The star
witnesses related to CCTV footage also stated that the appellant is not visible in
the footage. The CCTV footage was never played in the court nor were its
contents proved. Furthermore, not a single question in the accused statement was
asked about the contents of CCTV footage, therefore such evidence is not
acceptable. The looted articles which are money have no relevance so far as the
knife is concerned. There is no fingerprint and DNA examination. Findings
recorded in para 30 of the impugned judgment is baseless. The appellant has been
wrongly convicted and sentenced for the offence, and conviction is bad in law.
The appellant has been falsely implicated in the case. Learned counsel for the
appellant also submitted that this is an appeal of 2022 and there is no possibility
of an early hearing of this appeal in near future, hence, prays for suspension of the
remaining jail sentence and for grant of bail to the appellant.
5. Counsel for the State opposes the prayer and submits that the case of the
present appellant is not identical to the case of co-convict Harsh @ Ghanshyam.
From the applciant, knife with blood stains was recovered. In the case of co-
convict Harsh @ Ghanshyam there was no recovery of knife and the cause of
death of deceased was stab injuries. It is argued that Dr. Vikram Singh(PW-10)
opined in P.M. Report (ExP-19) that the "cause of death was shock and
hemorrhage as a result of stab injuries to the vital organs- stomach and heart" and
stated in his statement that the injuries found on the deceased might have been
caused by knife (article "F") which was sent to him for query by "query letter"
(ExP-20). As per the F.S.L. report (ExP-39) blood stains were found on the knife
article "F" and the clothes of the appellant which were seized as per the seizure
memo (ExP-15) from the appellant as per the disclosure statement (ExP-13) of the
appellant. Containing the CCTV footage, CD "Art-A", is the part of charge-sheet
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and copy was provided to the appellant with the copy of charge-sheet. Questions
were put by trial court during the examination of accused u/s 313 of Cr.P.C.
regarding seized CD "Art-A". No explanation was given by the appellant
regarding blood stains which were found on the clothes of appellant.
6. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and considering the
statement of Gurubhajan Singh(PW-1), Amjad Khan(PW-4), and Chetan
Sharma(PW-9) and also the fact that knife and blood stained clothes were
recovered on the memorandum of the appellant, at this stage, we do not find it to
be a fit case for suspension of remaining jail sentence of the appellant.
7. Accordingly, I.A.No.8157/2024 is dismissed.
(VIJAY KUMAR SHUKLA) (ANIL VERMA)
JUDGE JUDGE
PK
