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TMI Blog1997 (9) TMI 649X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sentence awarded to appellant Ram Chandra Tewari. 2. The brief facts of the case are that the informant Prem Sagar Dwivedi, owner of Avadh Medicines Aminabad, Lucknow had wedded his daughter Smt. Samta alias Ranno Devi with appellant Ram Chandra Tewari son of Munshi Lal resident of village Gurdahi PS. Sikandra district Kanpur Dehat. Mahendra Tewari is the younger brother of appellant Ram Chandra Tewari. Smt. Munni Devi appellant is the sister of Ram Chandra Tewari. The marriage took place, according to the informant, in 1985 and according to the accused persons in March, 1986. It is alleged that the marriage was solemnised with pomp and show and substantial dowry was given but still appellant Ram Chandra Tewari used to demand money from the informant. He also used to beat and torture Smt. Samta alias Ranno Devi. The informant always used to give money to Ram Chandra Tewari. Smt. Samta alias Ranno Devi had also written letters to the informant and other family members that she was being beaten and tortured by the accused persons. 3. It is alleged that the son of the informant had also brought ready made garments for the appellant Ram Chandra Tewari. With the help of the inform ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was arrested on 27-9-1993. His statement was recorded by the Investigating Officer and he stated that he had killed the deceased in his room. He was taken to the room and there he opened the room and pointed out the place where he had murdered his wife. There blood stains were found on the cemented floor in a corner. Its samples were taken and sent for chemical examination. On chemical examination, the chemical examiner found human blood on this cemented floor which is item No. 6 in his report dated 25-5-1995. 7. After the investigation was complete, the police submitted a charge-sheet before the learned Magistrate and all the accused persons, Ram Chandra Tewari, Mahendra Tewari and Smt. Munni Devi, were committed to the Court of Session. The trial took place before Shri Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Additional Sessions Judge, Lalitpur, who by a detailed judgment found the accused persons, Ram Chandra Tewari and Smt. Munni Devi guilty of the charges under Section 302 read with Section 34,1.P.C. Section 201 read with Section 34, I.P.C. and Section 498-A, IPC. Ram Chandra Tewari was awarded death sentence for having murdered his wife. Smt. Munni Devi was given life imprisonment and a fine ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the son of the informant and he had proved the letters which exhibited torture, cruelly and demand of money by Ram Chandra Tewari and Smt. Munni Devi. He also proved that the letters had been written by Sanita alias Ranno Devi and he was fully acquainted with the hand-writing of his sister. 14. P.W. 4, Dr. S. K. Singh, conducted the postmortem examination on the dead body of the deceased at 4.00 P.M. The Doctor found the following ante mortem injuries on the person of the deceased :- 1. L.W. 9 cm x 1 cm x bone deep on the right side of skull 8 cm above the right ear underlying bone fractured. 2. Multiple abraded contusions 4 in number on the front of chest 6 cm below xiphistenum big 5 cm x 1 cm, small 1/2 cm x 1A cm. 3. Abraded contusion 1 cm x 1/2 cm. (sheet of assault has not been given in the postmortem report). 4. L. W. 2-'/2 cm x Vi cm x skin deep on the back of left elbow. 5. Multiple abraded contusion 5 in number on the outer aspect of back of right forearm, and elbow big 1 1/2 cm x 1 cm small 1A cm x 1A cm. 6. Multiple abraded contusion 7 in number on the whole right thigh, left and foot on front aspect in an area of 70 cm x 14 cm big, 6 cm x 3 cm, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ritten the F.I.R., which was lodged by Prem Sagar Dwivedi. 20. P. W. 11, Cyan Prakash Verma, was the Investigating Officer of the case. He prepared the inquest report and the police papers. He recorded the statements of the witnesses. He took blood stained earth. He had also taken the plaster of the room which was blood stained. He also recorded the statements of the witnesses at Lucknow and Jhansi. PW-13, Chandra Bhan Singh, was the Investigating Officer, who submitted the charge-sheet in the case. 21. After the close of the evidence of the prosecution, the statements of the accused persons were recorded under Section 313, Cr.P.C. The accused persons admitted the relationship of the witnesses. Accused Ram Chandra Tewari stated that his marriage took place in March, 1986. There was no demand of dowry etc. He denied the other allegations of the prosecution. In reply to question No. 14, he stated that Ranno Devi died in the morning of 21st September, 1993. This palpably appears to be a confused statement. He further stated that at 10 or 11.00 A.M. he had sent a telegram to Jhansi. On the same Day Smt. Lata Dixit and her husband had come to Lalitpur. His father-in-law also reach ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e and who had murdered the victim. 24. As regard the motive, this is not a case of dowry death. This is a case where even after marriage, there was constant demand of money by accused Ram Chandra Tewari. In this connection, there is specific evidence of the prosecution which we would deal with soon after, but the status of the parties also shows that there might have been demand of money. How marriage took place is a different thing because marriage is admitted, but there appears a long gap of status between both the parties. Prem Sagar Dwivedi, father of the deceased, was a resident of village Nadguwan district Etawah as admitted by D.W. 1, Tirjugi Narain. This has also come in evidence that Prem Sagar Dwivedi had got a medicine shop in business centre like Aminabad in Lucknow. His nephew Prakash Dwivedi had got a furniture shop. The informant side appears to be affluent person. To the contrary, DW-1, Tirjugi Narain, himself admitted that there was no agricultural land with accused Ram Chandra Tewari. His grandfather did only Panditayee. He further stated that accused Ram Chandra Tewari used to sell grains in village Guardahi, but he had shifted to Lalitpur. It is admitted fact ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hand-writing of Ranno Devi, but did not specifically put any question to any of the prosecution witnesses. Admittedly, Ranno Devi Was residing along with the accused persons. They must be in possession of some paper written by Ranno Devi. They did not produce any such paper to prove that the letters produced by the prosecution were not in the hand writing of the victim. These letters specifically proved that the accused persons always tortured and cruelly beat the victim and could have killed her at any time. 26. In view of the above discussions, we are of the opinion that there was a very strong motive for the murder of Smt. Samta alias Ranno Devi wife of accused Ram Chandra Tewari. It is not necessary that for every murder, there should be enmity. Sometimes, poverty, inability to provide medicines to the ailing wife are the causes of murder and may constitute motive which motive is fully established in this particular case. 27. The vital question in this case is whether this was a case of accident or a case of murder. It was admitted by the learned counsel for the appellants that this was not a case of suicide. The injuries of the victim and the postmortem report fully pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Therefore, the case of accident by a running train is ruled out due to the nature of the injuries sustained by the deceased. Not only this, learned counsel for the defence while cross-examining the witnesses was conscious enough of this fact and, therefore, he did not dare to cross-examine the Doctor on the point whether these types of injuries could have been caused by train accident. It is apparent that the injuries were not caused by train accident and if the case of accident is eliminated, the irresistible conclusion is that Smt. Samta alias Ranno Devi was killed and the dead body was planted so that it may appear that it was a case of accident. Lota was also placed at some distance from the track to show that Smt. Samta alias Ranno Devi had gone to ease herself, but the theory of going to lease herself is also falsified in view of the fact that the site plan shows that there was a latrine in the house where accused Ram Chandra Tewari was residing. There was absolutely no suggestion to the witnesses or the statement of the accused persons that they used to go towards railway side to ease them selves and they were not allowed to use the latrine. The landlord, namely, P.W. 5, Ra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o body could sit in the mind of the accused. He may also have thought it to place the dead body in between the two lines of the track to show his bona fide that if he had to do it, he could have placed it on the railway line. It was also argued that the accused persons could have thrown the dead body at some dark place away from the railway line. If the dead body had been thrown at some dark place, then no defence would have been created in view of the injuries sustained by the deceased and the murder would have automatically been proved. It was further argued that there was light every where in the railway colony how the dead body could be thrown on the railway track. There is no evidence either way that the light was there and there was no electric! failure and the accused persons were not in a position to bring the dead body towards the railway line. The accused Ram Chandra Tewari had got ample time to bring the dead body towards railway line with the help of his brother and sister. The accused persons might have taken the dead body themselves because the place where the dead body was planted was not far away from the railway colony where the accused persons were residing. Not o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere the victim was residing along with her husband Ram Chandra Tewari. The facts also conclusively prove that the death of the victim did not take place by accident at about 5 or 6 A.M. The presence of semi digested food in the stomach of the victim shows that death took place some where between 11 or 12 midnight. There is no case of the accused that the victim died at the railway track between 11 or 12 midnight. Therefore, she was necessarily murdered in the room. Now the question is who is responsible for this murder. 33. Learned Sessions Judge had acquitted accused Mahendra Tewari. He is Dewar of the deceased and brother of accused Ram Chandra Tewari. It is unfortunate that there is no State appeal against his acquittal and, therefore, by reversing the finding of acquittal, Mehendra Tewari cannot be convicted. However, there is consistent evidence, which we will discuss soon after, that all the accused persons, namely, Ram Chandra Tewari, Mahendra Tewari and Smt. Munni Devi were residing in the said room along with Smt. Samta alias Ranno Devi. If one is murdered in the said room, the other three are either murderers or witnesses. Ram Chandra Tiwari and Munni Devi or Mahendra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cond para of his statement, he stated that in the morning Mahendra Tewari, Smt. Munni Devi and Ram Chandra Tewari all were present. It was Ram Chandra Tewari who awoke him and told that Bhabhi (deceased) was not in the house and all 'of them went to search the victim. Thus, it is clear that not only Ram Chandra Tewari, but Smt. Munni Devi and Mahendra Tewari were there in the said room on the said night. It has also come in the statement of Lata Dixit who was residing in Jhansi, the neighbouring district of Lalitpur, that when Ram Chandra Tewari had taken the house, he had called for Mahendra Tewari and Smt. Munni Devi and the deceased as well and they were all residing in the said room. PW 3 Ajai Kumar Dwivedi, also stated that Smt. Munni Devi was also there at Lalitpur at the time of the occurrence. In the cross-examination, he stated that after the occurrence Smt. Munni Devi had run from the house. This evidence specifically shows that all the three accused persons were present at the time when the occurrence had taken place. 36. The argument of the learned counsel for the appellants was that Smt. Munni Devi was a married lady. She must be residing in her Sasural. Why she ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ortured. Therefore, the offence under Section 480-A, I.P.C. is fully established against them. There is clinching circumstantial evidence which fully connects both the appellants with the murder of the deceased. Both of them are guilty of the offence under Sections 302 34, I.P.C. as well. They have tried to remove the dead body to screen themselves from legal punishment. Therefore, they are also guilty of the offence under Sections 201 34, I.P.C. The charges are fully established against the accused persons and the learned Sessions Judge has rightly convicted them under the three heads of the charges which were levelled against them. 38. It is true that there are certain observations and inference by the learned Sessions Judge which may be off the record and on surmises and conjectures, but the ultimate result on which the learned Sessions Judge has arrived at is absolutely correct. 39. We have discussed the entire evidence on the record and all the aspects of the case. In a case like the present one, there cannot be direct evidence. The volume and quality of evidence also differs from case to case and in this particular case the circumstantial evidence on the record is clinc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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