Murder appeal against life sentence for killing employer Piara Singh based on circumstantial evidence: last-seen together, blood-stained clothes with hammer, disclosure-led recovery of hammer, and extra-judicial confession to Manjit Singh. The High Court held the chain of circumstances complete and dismissed the appeal, upholding conviction.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
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CRA-D-639-DB-2003 (O&M) Reserved on :-17.07.2024 Date of Decision : 29.07.2024
Rajinder Kuma r ....Appellant
VERSUS
State of Punjab
....Respondents
CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SURESHWAR THAKUR HON’BLE MRS. JUSTICE SUDEEPTI SHARMA
Present: M s . Dolli Sharma (Amicus Curiae ) for the appellant.
M r . Maninderjit Singh Bedi, Addl. A.G., Punjab.
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SUDEEPTI SHARMA, J.
BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE
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the year of 200 0 and an electric motor was fitt e d in this land for running tube w ell. A kotha was a l so constructed in which, Piar a Singh father of Ujagar Sing h & Nanak Singh u s ed to sleep at night. On 14.0 3 .2000, as usual, Piara Singh, a fter taking meals, w ent to the fields at about 7.00 PM. Rajinder Kumar accused w as employed as a servant with them who used to r e side in the same kotha of tube w ell. In the morning of 15.03.2000, at about 8.00 a .m Ujagar Singh & Nanak Si n gh went to the fie l ds with tea of Piara Singh, bu t they found that their father P i ara Singh was lying in the pool of blood in the kotha. They also found mult i ple injuries on hea d , forehead and face of their fa t her Piara Singh. Rajinder Ku m ar accused was n o t found there and after leaving Nanak Singh, near the dead b o dy, Ujagar Singh went to the police station to lodge report, when, ASI Kashmir Si n gh met him near r ailway crossing, Sunam. Uj a gar Singh made statement Ex.PE before ASI Kas h mir Singh on the basis of whic h formal case was registered aga i nst the accused. A fter completion of the investigation, the accused was sent up for trial.
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sentenced him t o undergo imprisonment for lif e and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- and in default of p a yment of fine, to further under g o rigorous imprisonment for t h ree years. Hence th e present appeal.
SUBMISSIONS OF THE COUNSELS
i ) Pawan Kumar Chourasia Vs. State of Bihar [2023 SCC OnLine Supreme Court 259] whereby the Ho n ’ble Supreme Court in para 5 h eld as under:-
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"5. As far as extra-judicial c onfession is concerned, the la w is well settled. Generally, it is a weak piece of evidence. Howe v er, a conviction can be susta i ned on the basis of extrajudi c ial confession provided that the confession is proved to be voluntary and truthful. It sh o uld be free of any inducement. T he evidentiary value of such co n fession also depends on the pe r son to whom it is made. Goin g by the natural course of hu m an conduct, normally, a pers o n would confide about a crime committed by him only wit h such a person in whom he has implicit faith. Normally, a p e rson would not make a confes s ion to someone who is totally a stranger to him. Moreover, the Court has to be satisfied w i th the reliability of the confes s ion keeping in view the circum s tances in which it is made. A s a matter of rule, corroborati o n is not required. However, i f an extra-judicial confession is c orroborated by other evidenc e on record, it acquires more cre d ibility."
ii) Raja Naykar Vs. State of Chhattisgarh [2024 LiveLaw (SC) 60] whereby th e Hon’ble Supreme Court held a s under:-
“ 9. It is settled law that the su s picion, however strong it may be, ca n not take the place of proof be y ond reasonable doubt. An acc u sed ca n not be convicted on the groun d of suspicion, no matter how str o ng it i s. An accused is presumed to be innocent unless proved g u ilty be y ond a reasonable doubt.
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20. As already discussed herei n above, merely on the basis of su sp icion, conviction would not be tenable. It is the duty of the pr o secution to prove beyond all r e asonable doubt that it is only the ac c used and the accused alone wh o has committed the crime. We f ind th a t the prosecution has utterly fai l ed to do so .”
iv) Nandu Singh Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh (Now
Chhattisgarh) [2022 LiveLaw (SC) 229] wher e by the Hon’ble Supreme Cou r t in para No.10 hel d as under:-
“ 1 0 . In a case based on substan t ial evidence, motive assumes g r eat sig n ificance. It is not as if motive alone becomes the crucial link in the ca s e to be established by the pros e cution and in its absence the c ase of P rosecution must be discarde d . But, at the same time, complete ab s ence of motive assumes a diff e rent complexion and such abs e nce de f initely weighs in favour of the a c cused.”
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in their statem e nts and there is no evidence t o conclude that occurrence has not taken place an d the accused has been falsely i m plicated. Therefore, he prays t hat the prosecutio n has been able to prove its c ase beyond reasonable doubt and therefore learne d Court below has rightly convi c ted and sentenced the appellant.
ANALYSIS
2. Lacerated wound 2 x 1 cms on the right eyebrow clotted bl o od wa s present in & around the wou n d. On dissection underlying wo u nd wa s normal.
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3. A lacerated wound 2 x ½ cms on scalp 10 cms above the ro o t of th e nose. Clotted blood was pres e nt in and around the wound. On dis s ection underlying wound was not fractured.
4. A lacerated wound 2 x ½ c m s on left side of face near the n o se. Cl o tted blood was present in & around the wound. On dissec t ion un d er lying maxilliary wound was f ractured.
5. A lacerated wound 5 x ½ c m obliquely placed on left side o f the fa c e, starting from the middle of t h e left eyebrow going downwar d & lat e rally. Clotted blood was pres e nt in and around the wound. On dis s ection underlying wound was not fractured.
6. A lacerated wound 5 x 2 c m on left side of forehead, 4 c ms ab o ve the lateral end of left eyeb r ow. Clotted blood was present in an d around the wound. On diss e ction underlying wound was not fra c tured.
7. A lacerated wound 6 x 2 cm was present in left parietal reg i on. On dissection underlying wound was fractured with laceratio n of br a in issue. Clotted blood was pre s ent in and around the wound. 8. A lacerated wound 4 x 2 c m s over the occiput of skull. Clo t ted bl o od was present in and aro u nd the wound. On dissec t ion un d erlying wound was not fractur e d.
9. The bridge of the nose was visibly looking pressed down w ard wi t h fracture of nasal bone clotted blood was present in both nostr i ls.
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10. A reddish brown abrasion tr a nsversally placed 10 x 14 cms. On th e middle of lateral aspect of le f t thigh. On dissection underl y ing tis s ues were not injured. 10. As per his opinion the cause of de a th was haemorrhage and shock a s a result of injurie s which are ante-mortem in nat u re and are sufficient to cause d e ath in the ordinary c ourse of nature. He further sta t ed that he has seen Hammer E x .P3 and the injuries to the person of deceased cou l d have been caused with Ham m er. In his cross-ex a mination, he stated that the inj u ries on the person of the dece a sed were with blu n t weapon and it could not be said that these were caused w ith different weapons or not. Further he submitted that injury No.10 can occur du e to dragging also a n d Injury No.7 and 8 can be ca u sed by dragging because these are lacerated woun d s and these cannot be caused in a road accident.
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evidence:
CONCLUSION
Court conclude s as under:-
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last seen with their f ather Piara Singh (deceased) and there is no evidence which proves the involvement/presence of any third person. This f act clearly raises a stron g presumption that the accused h ad murdered Piara Singh ;
ii) Statements of Harpa l Singh PW-12 and Manu Si n gh PW-15 reveal anothe r circumstance i.e. the accused w as carrying Hathora in h is hand and he was wearing bl o od stained clothes, whic h also raises a strong presump t ion of involvement of the accused in the murder of P i ara Singh.
iii) Ex.PW9/E i.e. disclosure statement of the accused u n der Section 27 of the Ind i an Evidence Act, 1872 also st a nds proved, as the disco v ery was made in the presenc e of independent witnesse s .
iv) The statement of Ma n jit Singh (PW-10) reveals ano t her circumstance of ext r a-judicial confession, which a lso proved to be a substa n tive evidence against the accused. v) Statement of ASI K a shmir Singh (PW-9) corrobor a tes the statement in th e FIR, disclosure statement and recovery of hammer. He further stated that on 26.03.2000, he had arrested the accused who w as produced by Manjit S i ngh (PW-10).
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Meaning thereby the extra-judicial confession m ade by the accused to M anjit Singh (PW-10) is fur t her corroborated by ASI K ashmir Singh (PW-9). vi) Though as per the co n tention of the learned counsel for the appellant that the e xtra-judicial confession was m ade to a person who was n ot known to the accused, canno t be accepted on the grou n d that there is one statement m ade by Manjit Singh (PW - 10) before whom the extra-judicial confession is made t h at the accused requested hi m to produce him before t he police and in the statemen t of ASI Kashmir Singh ( PW-9) stated that he arrested the accused who was pr o duced by Manjit Singh (PW- 1 0). There is no cross-exa m ination to this effect. Theref o re, we cannot ignore eve n the extra-judicial confession m ade by the accused bef o re Manjit Singh (PW-10). T he circumstantial eviden c e and sequence of events pr o ves the case of the prosec u tion. vii ) As per inquest repo r t, the recovery of blood stai n ed wooden rod lying nea r the dead body is another evidence which shows that in all probabilities the act was don e by the accused.
vii i ) As per statement of Dr. Parmod Kumar (PW-1) w ho conducted the post- m ortem, the cause of death w as haemorrhage and sho c k as a result of injuries which are
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ante-mortem in nature and are sufficient to cause deat h in the ordinary course o f nature.
(SURESHWAR THAKUR) (SUDEEPTI SHARMA) JUDGE JUDGE
July 29, 2024 tripti
Wheth e r speaking/non-speaking : Spea k ing Wheth e r reportable : Yes/ N o
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1 issue framed by the court
Whether the circumstantial evidence, extra-judicial confession and recovery proved the accused's guilt for murder under Section 302 IPC beyond reasonable doubt.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Pawan Kumar Chourasia Vs. State of BiharReferred
[2023 SCC OnLine Supreme Court 259] · Who else cites this
Raja Naykar Vs. State of ChhattisgarhReferred
[2024 LiveLaw (SC) 60]
Nandu Singh Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh (Now Chhattisgarh)Referred
[2022 LiveLaw (SC) 229]
Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of MaharashtraApplied¶21
(1984) 4 SCC 116 · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Rajinder Kumar
State of Punjab
Sureshwar Thakur
Sudeepti Sharma
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
