The Supreme Court has dismissed a criminal appeal filed by a man accused of murdering his sister-in-law and her mother and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
A vacation bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice V. Ramasubramanian on Friday dismissed the criminal appeal filed by Naresh Kumar against the Uttarakhand High Court order which had dismissed his appeal against his trial court conviction order, cancelled his bail bonds and ordered him to be taken into custody.
The Supreme Court bench observed this act to be a well-planned murder. Vinay Kumar, advocate for petitioner Naresh, argued that in the testimonies of witnesses, the role of Naresh has not been ascribed in the alleged crime.
The Bench submitted to the petitioner that the petitioner did not appear and the petitioner cannot be compelled to be a witness. Counsel for the respondent stated that calls were made 16 times between 9.40 am-4.20 pm which is clear from the call detail records of two phones seized by police. The Bench stated to the petitioner that there is something called circumstantial Evidence.
The bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Indu Malhotra had issued notice on 17.05.2018 and a question was left open for the court to decide that whether there is enough evidence on record against Naresh Kumar to sustain his conviction. The High Court dismissed the appeal of Naresh Kumar stating that there is no merit in the appeals and cancelled his bail bonds and sureties.
Naresh Kumar was charged and convicted under Section 302, 120-B, 201 of IPC. As per the prosecution version, an FIR was lodged on 15.09.2009 upon the complaint of the informant that at 9:30 AM, his sister-in-law Rambeti, aged about 38 years, W/o Shri Rajesh Kumar and her mother Sunheri Devi, W/o Late Sompal, have left their house Bhootbangla, Rudrapur by car towards registration office as usual. However, she did not reach registration office. The car was being driven by Jareef. They got worried. His sister-in-law Rambeti had a plot at Bhowali. She used to talk about the same. He along with his elder brother went in search of his sister-in-law and when they reached near Saldi, many persons had gathered there. They stopped. The car was parked on the road. The dead bodies of his sister-in-law Rambeti and her mother Sunheri Devi were lying in the car. It appeared that the attempt was made to disfigure their faces wit acid. According to him, driver Jareef along with other persons has killed his sister-in-law Rambeti and her mother.
The High Court relied upon case of “Mukesh & another vs. State of NCT of Delhi & others(AIR 2017 SC 2161) and analogous matter”, their Lordships of the Hon’ble Supreme Court have held that once reasonable ground is shown for believing that two or more persons have conspired to commit offence, anything done by any one of them in reference to their common intention, is admissible against others.
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The Trial court in its judgment & Order dated 1.05.2012 convicted and sentenced Naresh to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302 of IPC and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- (each) and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months. Further convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment 2 for life under Section 120-B of IPC and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- (each) and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months. He was convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years under Section 201 of IPC and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- each and in default of payment of fine to undergo to simple imprisonment for a period of one month. All the sentences imposed under the aforesaid sections were directed to run concurrently.