IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V.K.MOHANAN MONDAY, THE 5TH JULY 2010 / 14TH ASHADHA 1932 CRL.A.No. 1318 of 2009() ------------------------ SC.72/2007 of ADDL.SESSIONS COURT (ADHOC) - I MANJERI DIVISION) .................... APPELLANT(S): ACCUSED (A3): ----------------------------------------------- SUBHASH, AGED 22, S/O.SATHYAN, CHITHRAVILASAM COLONY, KULATHOOR MEDANDA, PUTHUVAN MANAKATTIL, ATTIPRA VILLAGE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. BY ADVS. SRI.R.T.PRADEEP, SRI.V.VIJULAL RESPONDENT(S): --------------------------- THE STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM. BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SRI. C.M. NAZAR THIS CRIMINAL APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 05/07/2010, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: Kss V.K.MOHANAN, J. ---------------------------------------- Crl.A No.1318 of 2009 ---------------------------------------- Dated the 5th Day of July, 2010 JUDGMENT The third accused in S.C.No.72/2007 of the Additional Sessions Judge (Adhoc) I, Manjeri is the appellant. 2. The prosecution case is that the accused persons three in number hatched a conspiracy on some day before 3.4.2002 and entered into an agreement to commit robbery of valuables and money from the Indian made foreign liquor shop of the Consumer Fed located at Malappuram – Kottappadi public road and in pursuance of such conspiracy and in furtherance of their common intention, the accused on 30.4.2002 at about 7.pm committed robbery of valuable liquor and cash of Rs.57,000/- from the above shop and in the course of the commission of the above offence, they have damaged valuable implements and bottles of liquor of the above shop causing loss of about Rs.40,000/- and the accused have used dangerous weapons such as chopper, sword, iron pipes and thus they have committed offences punishable under sections 120B, CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:2:- 395 and 427 IPC and under section 27 of the Arms Act. 3. On the basis of the above allegation, crime No.162/2002 was registered in the Malappuram police station and after investigation, they filed a report in the court of JFCM, Malappuram wherein CP No.20/2006 was instituted and subsequently, committed the case to the Sessions Court. When the case was committed, only three accused were available and hence, the case against the accused who are absent, namely, A4 to A6, A8 and A9 was split up and refiled as CP No.15/2007. The Sessions Court, on taking cognizance of the case, made over the same to the court of Assistant Sessions Court, Manjeri from where it was subsequently withdrawn and made over to the trial Court for disposal. In the meanwhile, A7 was absconded and hence the case against him was split up and refiled as S.C.No.324/2008. 4. Thus A1 to A3 faced the trial in S.C.No.72/2007. On the appearance of the accused, after hearing the prosecution as well as the defence, a formal charge was framed under sections 395, 427, 120B read with CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:3:- Section 34 of IPC, which when read over and explained to the accused, they denied the same and pleaded not guilty. Thus, the prosecution adduced its evidence consists of the oral testimony of PWs 1 to 17 and documentary evidence such as Exts.P1 to P31. Material objects MO1 to MO-11 were produced and identified and marked. No evidence either documentary or oral produced from the side of the defence. At the time of questioning the accused under section 313 Cr.P.C., the 2nd accused absconded. On the basis of the available materials and evidence, the trial court found that A1 has not committed the offences and accordingly, acquitted him under section 335 Cr.P.C. Appellant/A3 is also found not committed any offence under section 120(b) IPC and under section 27 of the Arms Act but he is found guilty under section 427 and 395 read with Section 34 of IPC. On such conviction, the appellant-3rd accused is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 2 years under section 395 read with section 34 of IPC and under CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:4:- section 427 read with Sec.34 IPC., he is also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 2 years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 4 months. It was also ordered that the sentences shall run consecutively. 5. It is the above conviction and sentence challenged by the 3rd accused in this appeal. 6. Heard Sri R.T.Pradeep, the learned counsel appearing for the appellant and also the learned Public Prosecutor. 7. At the outset, the learned counsel for the appellant submitted that A2 who is the master brain of the incident has been acquitted by the trial court through a subsequent trial and the said submission is not controverted by the learned Public Prosecutor. 8. The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the judgment of the court below is liable to be set aside and the appellant is entitled to get a clear acquittal. The learned counsel in support of his above submission it is pointed out that the identity of the accused/appellant is not CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:5:- established. It is pointed out by the learned counsel that witnesses have no prior acquaintance with the appellant and even according to the prosecution, the witnesses had seen the appellant for the first time at the alleged time of the occurrence. It is also pointed out that the name of the appellant is not shown in the FIR. It is also the case of the counsel that in Ext.P1 FIS, the details of overt act of the accused are not given. Thus, according to the learned counsel, the appellant/accused is entitled to get a clear acquittal as the evidence of prosecution is not satisfactory and sufficient. After taking through PW1 and PW11, the learned counsel submitted that regarding the overt act of the accused, these two eye witnesses are not in uniform in their evidence, particularly, with respect to the weapons allegedly used by the accused. Thus according to the learned counsel, the appellant is entitled to get an acquittal. 9. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor, submitted that the appellant is involved in several criminal cases and in the present case, the charge against the appellant has been established beyond reasonable doubt CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:6:- and the identity of the accused, including the appellant is properly proved in the court and according to the Public Prosecutor, even if some contradictions are there with respect to the overt Act and weapons used, the same are not sufficient to disbelieve the entire prosecution case and to acquit the accused. 10. I have carefully considered the arguments advanced by both the counsel for the appellant and the learned Public Prosecutor. 11. The alleged incident, according to the prosecution, robbery was committed at about 7.p.m on 30.4.2002 in the Indian made foreign liquor shop of Consumer Fed located on the Malappuram-Kottappadi public road. In order to establish the incident, the prosecution mainly depends upon the evidence of PW1 and PW11. PW1 was the Manager and PW11 was the salesman of the said shop. Ext.P1 is the F.I.Statement given by PW1. PWs 1 and 11 deposed that they were inside the shop at the time of the incident and PW1 was in the cash counter and PW11 and one Liyakath were salesmen engaged on duty at the CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:7:- relevant point of time. According to these witnesses at the relevant time, there were about 40 persons in the queue for purchasing liquor. According to the witnesses, there is a screen, made up of glass and wood in between the cash counter and the place, where the consumers stood in queue and there is a small opening at this screen for entering into the shop. According to PWs 1 and 11, when they were on duty, they heard some sound outside and when they paid attention, they found some persons rushing towards the shop by making some noises and they were carrying weapons like iron rod, sword, chopper etc. The consumers on queue were disturbed by the accused by whirling weapons and they ran away on getting afraid. Thereafter three persons entered into the shop and the other three persons guarded outside. The accused who were standing outside damaged the glass of the screen and the bottles kept on the table of the cash counter and containing liquor were broken and some liquor bottles were taken and dropped in a bag. According to PW1, one of the culprits who entered into the shop wielded a sword CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:8:- at PW1 in order to stab him and he managed to save himself at which time the said sword had forcefully stuck on the electronic cash register which got damaged. While PW11 and CW3 attempted to make sounds in order to attract others, two of the assailants directed them to the corner of that shop and threatened them by placing weapons on their body that they would be killed. According PWs 1 and 11, one of the assailants opened the drawer of table in the cash counter and robbed away the money received as collection by sale of liquor which according to them will come to the tune of Rs.57,000/-. According to these witnesses, there was an empty cardboard box, wherein green label whisky had come and the assailants deposited the robbed money in it and thereafter they went away with same. Thus, PWs 1 and 11 had given the details of the cash and bottles. According to PW1, due to the damage of the cash counter, liquor bottles and electronic cash record, a loss of Rs.40,000/- was resulted to the Consumer Fed. 12. PW6 is a person who went to the said shop on CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:9:- the day of the incident for purchasing liquor and while he was in the queue, he had seen the assailants entering into the shop. PW8 is an autorickshaw driver. While he was coming from Kunnummal to Kottapadi in front of this particular shop, he found one person carrying one liquor bottle and sword and another person following him carrying an iron rod and running towards his side. According to him, on seeing this he suddenly stopped his autorickshaw on the road and then he found a maruthi van as halted on the road side. According to PW8, he found persons running and entering into the van and other persons inside the van had accelerated and driven away the vehicle. He also found the cardboard box in the hand of one of the persons who was running. Besides the above, the prosecution had examined PW9, the Scientific Assistant of Police Mobile Laboratory, Malappuram and proved Ext.P11 report. Ext.P2 is the scene mahazar attested by PW2. Thus According to the prosecution, Exts.P2 and P11 would show that there was an incident as alleged by the prosecution. Another evidence pressed into CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:10:- service by the prosecution is that of PW10, the Circle Inspector of Police, Cherppu Police Station in Thrissur district. According to the prosecution, PW10 conducted investigation in crime No.125/2002 of Nedupuzha police station. Exts.P12 and P13 are the certified copies of the FIR and FIS with respect to the said crime. According to PW10, at about 11 p.m on 30.4.2002, he received a message at the control room that somebody have committed dacoity in a petrol pump at Kunamkulam and those persons are proceeding to Thrissur side in a maruthi van bearing No.KL-01F-2132. According to PW10, though the control party attempted to prevent the car from the Poonkunnam junction, the same was not materialised, and the further information received by him is to the effect that the accused persons in the van by throwing bomb at the police party escaped from there and accordingly, the above facts were intimated to PW10 by the control party. Ext.P13 is the intimation report basing on which PW10 registered Ext.P12 FIR. Thus, According to PW10, he preferred Ext.P14 scene mahazar on 1.5.2002 at about 10 CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:11:- a.m. According to PW10, he inspected the van and found weapons, liquor, bill for purchasing liquor, bill for calling over telephone and a diary. According to the prosecution, the culprits who had travelled in the said van were the very same culprits who had committed dacoity in the Consumer Fed shop and since those culprits were carrying the name and address of the first accused and according to the prosecution, the first accused was a member of the criminal conspiracy to do criminal acts along with other accused. 13. PW12 is the officer who conducted investigation in this case and according to him, A1 was involved in this incident and hence he filed Ext.P17 report to incorporate section 120B IPC and Ext.P18 report to add the name and address of A1. The trial court itself has found that PW6 and PW8 turned hostile, when the question of identification of the accused had come. During the examination of PW1, in chief, he said that he can identify the persons those who came and committed the mischief. During the chief examination of PW1, he did not give CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:12:- specific overt act committed by the appellant- 3rd accused, but during cross examination, he stated that it was A3 who threatened to kill PW11 by showing an iron rod. It is also claimed by PW1 that he had given statement to the Police regarding the features by which the culprits could be identified, but the same is not seen recorded in Ext.P1. When PW11 was examined, he had stated that he can clearly identify the assailants and he identified the appellant-3rd accused as one of the assailants and according to PW1, it was the appellant-3rd accused who had collected the cash from the cash counter. But in the cross examination, he said that he did not mention the features of identification of the culprits to the police and he did not state to the Police that the culprits could be identified by sight on a later occasion. Going by the evidence of PWs 1 and 11, it can be seen that, according them, they had seen the appellant-3rd accused for the first time at the incident and thereafter they seen the 3rd accused only in the court. They have also denied the claim of the investigating officer that the 3rd accused was shown CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:13:- to them during the course of investigation. According to the prosecution, PW10 had arrested the 2nd accused in this case on 1.5.2002 and it is the further case of PW10 that role of the other accused was disclosed when the 2nd accused was arrested and questioned. It is on the basis of the information issued by PW10 and in continuation, PW14 took over the investigation in the case on 30.5.2002, and thus it is PW14, after questioning the 3rd accused from Attingal Sub Jail, arrested him and filed Ext.P25 report to array the appellant and the 8th accused as accused. When Ext.P2 scene mahazar was prepared, M.O2 series and M.O3 series were seized which are broken pieces of glass panel at the cash counter and one broken bottle of a foreign liquor. M.O-4 and M.O-6 are choppers, M.O-5 iron pipe and MO-7 and MO-8 bottles of I.M.F.L were recovered by PW10 during his inspection of the above mentioned maruthi van. PW10 while arresting the 2nd accused, recovered Rs.2510/- which marked as M.O-9 series to MO-11 series. For the above recovery, PW10 had prepared Ext.P15 seizure mahazar. According to the prosecution, PW11 CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:14:- identified M.O-4 to M.O-6 as the weapons used by the assailants and M.O-7 and M.O-8 bottles of liquor taken away by the assailants. So, the prosecution mainly depends upon the above evidence and materials to implicate 3rd accused in the above case. 14. The trial court after the analysis of the evidence on record found that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing the case against the appellant-3rd accused. 15. The learned counsel for the appellant vehemently submitted that the prosecution has miserably failed to establish the case against the appellant beyond doubt and as such he is entitled to get clear acquittal. The learned counsel, in order to substantiate his argument, invited me to the deposition of PWs 1 and 11. According to the learned counsel, the ocular witnesses contradicting each other regarding the entire incident and the overt acts of the accused involved and the weapons used . 16. In the light of the above submission of the counsel, I have again perused the evidence of PW1, the manager of the retail outlet of Consumer Fed. In his CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:15:- deposition, PW1 says that one, among the accused who were outside, attacked the counter with a chopper, that person destructed the liquor bottles and took some liquor bottles. But PW1 did not say as to who wielded the sword or who wielded the iron pipe. Whereas, PW11 said that the person who wielded the iron rod had taken the money. He had also stated that one, among the three assailants entered inside the counter, took the money and the bottles and attacked PW1 with a sword. The above contradiction and ambiguity of the identity of the accused assume importance because these witnesses were not having prior acquaintance, identified the appellant-3rd accused for the first time in the box. Even in the impugned judgment, the trial court observed in paragraph 29 that: “On these aspects, I can say, that the versions of PW1 and PW11 are slightly contradictory to each other. The version of PW1 would show that the third accused had only prevented the movement of PW11 and another assailant had taken the cash from the cash box When PW11 said that the 3 rd accused had taken the cash, it may not be possible for this accused to threaten PW11 and that person may be a different CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:16:- assailant”. The above passage in the impugned judgment itself is sufficient to show that the prosecution witnesses are unable to give a clear account regarding the incident particularly, overt acts of the assailants. It is also relevant to note that even according to the prosecution, the time of incident was about 7.p.m on 30.4.2002. According to the prosecution, about 9 persons went to the Consumer Fed retail shop after 7 p.m and these witnesses were not having any prior acquaintance with the accused and therefore, the identity claimed to have established by the prosecution for the first time in the court that too with the contradictions and inconsistencies in the evidence of PW1 and PW11, cannot be legally acceptable and, therefore, it cannot be held that the prosecution has established the identity of the accused beyond doubt. 17. It is pertinent to note that the first accused was implicated in the above crime on the basis of the confession statement of 2nd accused. It is also relevant to note that the present appellant was implicated as the 3rd CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:17:- accused only on the basis of Ext.P25 report dated 12.4.2004, ie., after two years from the date of the alleged incident. It is pertinent to note that in the FIR, no name of the accused were given and also no particulars to identify the assailants or accused were also given. In the absence of those materials, the prosecution did not justify in implicating the 3rd accused on the basis of Ext.P25 report that too after two years. Due to the above defects, that occurred in the prosecution case, especially, when the prosecution evidence are not sufficient to establish the identity of 3rd accused, I am of the view that the prosecution has miserably failed to establish the case against the appellant beyond reasonable doubt and the appellant is entitled to get benefit of doubt. Therefore, on a re-appreciation of the evidence and the materials on record, I am unable to approve the conviction of the appellant as recorded by the trial court as the prosecution has miserably failed to establish its case against the appellant/3rd accused beyond reasonable doubt and consequently, the benefit will go in favour of the appellant. CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:18:- In the result, this appeal is allowed setting aside the judgment of the trial court and also setting aside the conviction and sentence imposed against the appellant. Accordingly, the appellant/3rd accused is acquitted of all the charges levelled against him and he is set at liberty and he is entitled to get released from jail forthwith, if he is not required in any other case. In the light of the above order of acquittal, the Registry is directed to send the gist of this judgment to the jail authorities, Central Prison, Thiruvananthapuram, for appropriate action. V.K.MOHANAN, JUDGE kvm/- CRL.A.No.1318/09 -:19:- O.P.No. JUDGMENT Dated:..