Manjit Singh @ Mange vs C.B.I

(3) The prosecution case in brief is as follows :-

(6) The prosecution further states that one Mohd. Dosa, Tahir Shah @ Tappu and Babloo entered into criminal conspiracy to eliminate L.D. Arora to strike terror among the customs officials with a view from preventing anyone from passing on information about their smuggling activities or their involvement in the Bombay Blasts on March 12, 1993. Pursuant to this conspiracy hatched, Babloo instructed K.K. Saini and Mange on 20.03.1993, who were with him in Krishna 6 Nagar, Nepal, to assassinate the deceased L.D. Arora. Mange was further informed that one Alimuddin @ Baba would be available at Hotel Finero, Allahabad. Babloo gave them `10- 12,000/-, one 9 mm Pistol, 12 cartridges and a Maruti Car, bearing registration No. DNH 8440, to accomplish the task. Thereafter, K.K. Saini and Mange left Nepal with the above mentioned fire arms in the said car. They reached Allahabad and checked into the above mentioned Hotel Finero in Room No.7 and entered their names as A.K. Singh and Harjeet Singh respectively in the hotel register. Thereafter, Alimuddin also checked into Room No. 5 of the same hotel along with a lady named Smt. Arshi. On the same day, there was a meeting between K.K. Saini, Mange and Alimuddin in Room No.7 to chalk out the strategy to kill the deceased on the morning of 24.03.1993, i.e. the next day. All three of them reached the office and residence of the deceased on a scooter and conducted a thorough survey. Babloo further contacted K.K. Saini over telephone installed at the hotel in Allahabad, instructing him to kill the deceased that very day as he might leave for Bombay on the next day to disclose information he had gathered regarding 7 the Mumbai serial blasts of 1993. Persuant to these instructions, at around 6.45 p.m., K.K. Saini, Mange and Alimuddin waited near the ADA Colony, Circular Road, Allahabad for the arrival of the deceased in his car. As soon as the car of the deceased was spotted in the vicinity, all three of them took up positions and when the deceased entered the ADA Colony through the main gate in the eastern boundary wall and was about to park his car, K.K. Saini took out his pistol and fired three shots at the deceased, as a result of which, the deceased sustained fatal injuries and collapsed in his seat. (7) It is further case of the prosecution that during the course of the investigation, they recovered three empty cartridges and one lead from the car of the deceased and one lead from the ground, where the car was parked. The Ballistic Expert of F.S.L., Lucknow opined that the three empty cartridges were fired from the same 9 mm pistol. Investigations disclosed that Mohd. Dosa had entered into criminal conspiracy with Tahir Shah and Babloo to kill the deceased L.D. Arora so that their involvement in the Bombay Bomb Blasts were not revealed. After killing the deceased, the information was relayed to 8 Babloo and later, Mange and K.K. Saini returned to Nepal on 25.03.1993 by crossing the Indo-Nepal border at Krishna Nagar by paying an amount of Rs. 600/- in Nepal currency towards octroi/tax for vehicle No.DNH 8440. The course of investigation further led to information that one Virendra Pant and Sanjay Khanna met Babloo in Al-Rigu Apartments in Dubai where Babloo made an extra judicial confession that he had got the deceased killed through the concerned people as he had information about the activities of Mohd. Dosa and Tahir Shah especially in the smuggling of RDX, weapons and explosives used in the Bombay Bomb Blasts. For this job, he was paid `6,00,000/- by Tahir Shah, out of which `50,000/- was given to K.K. Saini.

(8) Prosecution further states that K.K. Saini, while in police custody, during the period from 06.04.1994 to 04.05.1994 made a confessional statement under Section 15 of the TADA Act, wherein he confessed his own involvement as well as involvement of others in the killing of L.D. Arora. Based on his confession and information, the Maruti Car bearing No. DNH 8440, the vehicle used in the commission of the offence, 9 was also recovered. Later, K.K. Saini refused to join the Test Identification Parade and his refusal was recorded by Shri Rakesh Kapoor, Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi. The confessional statement of Mange was also recorded on 11.07.2001 by S.P., CBI, Delhi. Accordingly, charge sheet against K.K. Saini and Mange was filed in the Designated Court both under the provisions of the IPC and the TADA Act on 26.11.2001, which was registered as Criminal Case No.3 of 1994 and Criminal Case No.3A of 1994. It is also relevant to notice that Babloo was arrested in Singapore on 21.04.1995 in response to look out notice issued by Interpol, India. On the request of Govt. of India, he was extradited by the Govt. of Singapore. The Extradition Treaty signed between the two countries provided that the person being extradited could only be tried for criminal acts recognized as offences in both the countries. Since, there was no law in Singapore which corresponds to the TADA Act, though Babloo was extradited, he could only be tried under Section 120-B and 302 of the IPC and, therefore, no charge under Section 3 of the TADA Act was framed against Babloo. After completion of investigation, 10 the investigating agency filed charge sheet before the Designated Court (TADA) for the offences under Section 302 IPC against K.K. Saini and Mange for offences under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC and against Babloo under Section 302 read with Section 120B IPC. K.K. Saini and Mange were also charged under Section 3(2) and 3(3) read with Section 3(1) of the TADA Act. To prove the charges, the prosecution had examined 88 witnesses in the leading criminal case No. 3 of 1994 and 85 witnesses in criminal case No. 3A of 1994 during the trial and relied upon various documents including confessional statements recorded during investigation. All the accused persons abjured their guilt and pleaded innocence and stated that they have been falsely implicated in this case.

(48) In view of the above discussion, we hold that the confessional statement made by a person under Section 15 shall be admissible in the trial of a co-accused for offence committed and tried in the same case together with the accused who makes the confession.

(59) In our view, since no prejudice is caused to the accused, we are unable to agree with the contention of Shri. K.T.S. Tulsi and Shri Amarendra Sharan on this aspect of the matter. Having considered the legal arguments advanced in these appeals, now we will examine the evidence against Babloo independently.

(67) From the evidence on record, it can safely be inferred that Babloo was the mastermind of the whole incident and Mange and K.K. Saini committed the offence at the behest of Babloo. In our view, there is independent incriminating evidence against Babloo, even if we have to eschew the confessional statement of co-accused. Hence, we reject the appeal of Babloo.

Case of K.K. Saini and Mange (68) We now proceed to examine the evidence against K.K. Saini and Mange independently. It must be noted that the witnesses here shall be referred to by the numbers assigned to them under Criminal Appeal No.3 of 1995.

62 (75) The argument pivoted on the requirements under Section 20A(1) not being fulfilled is, in our opinion, has no merit. The learned Additional Solicitor General Shri P.P. Malhotra contends that both K.K. Saini and Mange were produced before the CMM, Delhi to fulfill the requirements under Rule 15 and the accused did not, at that point, claim that they had been made to sign on blank papers. Keeping in mind the possibility of abuse of the process, this court in Kartar Singh (supra) laid down certain guidelines whereby the veracity of the confessional statement is ensured, for example, the confession given to a police officer under Section 15 is to be sent to the CMM without delay and if the accused when he is so produced before the CMM alleges torture, he is to be sent for a medical examination. Here the accused were sent to the CMM, Delhi the very next day and they neither alleged that the confession was fabricated, nor that they had been tortured. In the light of these circumstances, we have to give due credence to the confession statement and consider to what extent it has been corroborated by substantive evidence.

(88) The prosecution in this case has argued that charge under Section 3 is maintainable in the light of the Bombay bomb blasts and the fact that L.D. Arora would have been pivotal in providing information regarding the smuggling of arms and explosives. The case before us concerns the murder of L.D. Arora. The prosecution has not been successful in proving that this particular murder was committed with the intention to cause terror. As mentioned earlier, terror could have been caused as a consequence of the act. The prosecution has stated that the main intention behind the murder of L.D. Arora was to prevent the names of Mohd. Dosa, Tahir Shah and others involved in smuggling of arms and explosives would not come to light during the investigations that followed the Bombay blast. It is therefore evident that the intention of the accused in the present case was not to cause terror but to prevent 74 information regarding another crime from being divulged. In the light of these facts, we are of the opinion that the TADA Court was justified in dismissing the charges framed under the TADA Act. Therefore, appeals filed by the State for enhancement of sentence require to be dismissed. (89) In view of the discussion noticed above, we find no illegality in the judgment under appeals. As such, appeals stand dismissed.