Brief case history
On 21st July 2002 One Rajesh Kumar and Jasbir Singh made complaint to police and on the basis there of police regd this case u/s 406,420,467,468, 34 IPC against 9 accused and thereafter on 25/7/2002 police received another similar complaint of Bhagat Singh and Jaidev against the same 9 accused which was attached with complaint dated 21/7/2002. The allegations are that all the 9 accused cheated the complainants and received Rs.7 lac from each of the complainants for sending them abroad.
3 accused were arrested, 4 accused got anticipatory bail whereas 2 accused were declared PO and out of four who got anticipatory bail police did not challan 3 ladies accused and put them in khanna no 2.
In March 2003 police submitted final report u/s 173 crpc on the basis of the first complaint dated 21/7/2002 and did not mention anything in it about second complaint dated 25/7/2002.
The trail court framed charges against the accused u/s 406, 420,468,120-B IPC only on the basis allegations mentioned in the first complaint dated 21/7/2002.The charges as under:
“ I , Sanjeev Arya,JMIC, Kurukshetra, do hereby charge you all as under;
That in the month of March 2001, and on 10/6/2001as well as on 11/7/2001 within the area of 3rd gate under P.S.K.U.K, Kurukshetra, you all along with your co-accused Deepak Sharma, Hariender kaur and Dharampal Choudhary hatched a criminal conspiracy and in criminal conspiracy with each other, you all along with your co-accsued Deepak Sharma etc. cheated the complainants Jasbir Singh, Rajesh Kumar by dishonestly inducing them to deliver their passport no 4138 dated 21/5/2001 and passport no A-2799678 dated 16/5/1997 and also received a cash amount of Rs. 17,21,000/- belonging to the complainants for sending them to U.S.A., but you all converted the same to your own use by not sending the complainants to abroad and thus , you all therby committed an offence of breach of trust in respect of the said entrusted property under section 406 read with section 120-B I.P. within my cognizance.
Secondly on the basis of the aforesaid dates and place, you all in criminal conspiracy with each other along with your co-accused Deepak shrama etc. cheated the complainants Jasbir Singh and Rajesh Kumar by dishonestly inducing them to deliver their aforesaid passports along with the said cash amount, on the pretext for sending them to abroad i.e. U.S.A and you all altered the entire valuable security and thus, you all there by committed an offence punishable u/s 420 read with section 120-B IPC and with my cognizance.
Lastly, on the aforesaid dated, time and place you all along with your co-accused Deepak Sharma etc. in criminal conspiracy with each other, forged certain documents i.e two receipt showing the payment of Rs. 7,00,000/- each from complainant Jasbir Singh for sending abroad and for settlement to U.S.A; issued by Mukesh Pahwa accused under the name and style Pahwa & Associate, Indian Junior Chamber, National Director (Training) year 2001 and two tickets pertaining to Alitalia air Line Bombay to Milan to New York dated 30/6/2001 and New York to Milan to Bombay dated 30/7/2001 and other documents, for taking them to abroad i.e. U.S.A, intending that it shall be used for the purpose of cheating and that you all have thereby committed an offence punishable under section 468 read with 120-b IPC and within my cognizance.
Sd dated 19/5/2003
NOTE: The trail court did not frame the charges against the accused regarding the allegations contained in the second complaint dated 25/7/2002 of Bhagat singh and Jaidev.
That prosecution in order to prove it’s case examined PW1 sukhdev singh, PW2 ASI Ram Pal, PW 3 Jasbir Singh (complainant), PW4 Rajesh Kumar (Complainant), PW5 Ranbir singh, PW6 Jaidev (complainant), PW7 Isham Singh, PW8 Bhupinder Singh & PW9 Bhagat Singh (complainant). PW9 then moved an application u/s 319 crpc in the trail Court and vide orders dated 23/3/2006, the application u/s 319 crpc was allowed and three lady accused who were put in Khana No 2 were summoned as additional accused for their trail along with other accused already facing trail. Out of 3 ladies, 2 ladies accused challenged the aforesaid order dated 23/3/2006 in revision and vide order dated 9/1/2007 passed by Fast Track court, Kurukshetra. their revision was accepted and they were discharged by setting aside the order dated 23/3/2006. Trail court the framed charges against 3rd lady accused on dated 13/12/2007. Thereafter, the prosecution again re examined aforesaid PW1 and PW 3 to PW9 and also examined it’s other witnesses i.e. PW 10 to PW 14, however,PW2 Ram Pal HC was given up by the trail Court.
The prosecution examined PW1 Jasbir Singh, who has stated that he did not move any application EXPW1/A with Rajesh Kumar and also did not hand over any document to the police as has been mentioned in Ex PW1/B. Thus this witness did not support the case and has turned hostile. PW2 Jaidev also stated that he did not move any complaint EX PW2/A with Bhagat Singh to the police on 25/7/2002. He also stated that he did not make any statement EX PW2/B to the police and thus this witness also did not support the case of the prosecution. PW 3 Ranbir Singh, Pw4 Bhupinder Singh, PW5 Isham singh and PW 6 Mange Ram also did not support the prosecution case and they also turned hostile. The Prosecution examined PW7 Sukhdev Singh A.S.I., PW8 Tekan Raj Sharma D.S.P., PW 9 Harpal singh, S.I.,I.O. PW 10 Banwari Lal I.O., PW 11 Maya Ram A.S.I., I.O. PW 12 Bhagat singh, PW 13 Chuni lal,S.I. and PW 14 Ram singh H.C. and then closed it’s evidence.
Thereafter the statement of accused were recorded u/s 313 crpc and vide judgment dated 3/3/2012 out of 5 accused, one accused was held guilty u/s 420 IPC however remaining accused were acquitted by giving them benefit of doubt.
PW 1 Jasbir singh and one Rajesh Kumar moved a joint complaint EX.PW1/A dated 21/7/2002 on the basis of which the case in hand was registered. The said PW 1Jasbir singh did not support the prosecution case and other complaint Rajesh Kumar PW4 before moving of the application u/s 319 crpc also did not support the case and he was not re-examined after 13/12/2007.
PW 2 Jaidev who jointly moved a complaint EX PW2/A with PW 12 Bhagat Singh also did not support the prosecution case.
PW 3 to PW 6 also did not support the prosecution case and they all also turned hostile.
PW7 to PW 11,PW13 and PW 14 all are police officials.
PW 12 Bhagat Singh complainant is the only witness who did not turn hostile but he also could not corroborate the content of his complaint EX PW2/A dated 25/7/2002. PW 12 Bhagat Singh in his examination in chief stated that he had talked to all the accused in the year 2002.In his cross examination he has admitted that he had lost his passport on 27/6/2002 and got entered DDR NO 54 dated 9/7/2002 to the effect that his passport was lost on 27/6/2002.He admitted and identified his signatures on copy of DDR no 54 dated 9/7/2002 EX DJ placed on file by the defence. Thus it is very much clear that PW 12 has lost his passport on 27/6/2002 much earlier to the regd. of this case. This witness has admitted the copy of his affidavit dated 20/09/2002 EX DK which was submitted by him for reissuing of his passport from Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh. This witness has further that EX DM is the Photostat copy of his BA 3rd year certificate which was issued to him Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra on 15/4/2002.This witness has alleged that he on 3/6/2001 had given his original passport and also his original BA 3rd year certificate to one accused but if EX DJ.DK and DM are gone through it stands proved this witness is a liar as in actual his passport was lost on 27/6/2002 and his BA 3rd certificate was issued to him on 15/4/2002.Thus from 3/6/2001 to 27/6/2002 the original passport of this PW 12 Bhagat singh was with him before it was lost on 27/6/2002 and his BA3rd year certificate was not even issued to him during the period 3/6/2001 to 14/4/2002.
