TMI Blog1960 (4) TMI 100X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r in the town of Bhagalpur. There was a serious explosion with fire as a result of which the double-storeyed godown building of a mill, known as the Bhagwati Hosiery Mill, was completely blown up and three persons, viz.(1) Bhagwati Ram Kejriwal, the father of respondent No. 1 Srilal, and one of the Directors of the Mill, (2) Shivaram Sharma, an employee of a firm, known as Gopalrai Ramchandra, and (3) Nagendra Nath Das, a mistri attached to the Hosiery Mill, were killed. Besides the loss of lives and the building a huge quantity of hosiery goods, Cotton piece goods and cotton yarn were destroyed by fire. The prosecution case is that the goods in the godown which were insured had been deliberately set on fire in pursuance of a conspiracy with the intention of claiming against the insurance companies concerned. The respondent, the three victims and certain other persons are said to have been parties to this conspiracy. 3. It is necessary to set out the following pedigree : GOPAL RAI KEJREIWAL | Ramchandra _______________|_____________ | | Bhagwati Ganpat | _________________|_______ | | | | Debi Prasad Mohan Lal ____|____________________________ | | | | Srilal Murlidhar Atmaram ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... further loan of ₹ 2,50,000/- in February 1953 from firm Brajmohan Ratanlal of Ahmedabad and Parmeshwar Prasad Nandlal of Bombay by mortgaging the Mill premises and the machineries. A debenture trust deed was also executed by respondent Srilal in connection with these transactions. The execution of the debenture trust deed was resented by the Central Bank who considered it to be a breach o faith on the part of the Directors of the Mill and it called upon the Mill to clear off the debit balance which on 1-5-53 stood at ₹ 1,49,248/8/3 (vide exhibit 16/5). On receipt of this demand notice the Mill made some small payments between 2nd of May 1953 and 24th of June 1953, the total amounting to ₹ 3,030/4/-. At the same time the Bank started verification of the stock in the godown which continued from 15th of June 1953 to 24th of June 1953. The Imperial Bank authorities also had verified the stock between the 4th May 1953 and the 9th June 1953. These verifications did not disclose any shortage of goods. The case of the prosecution, however, is that these checks had been done superficially and there was in fact considerable shortage of goods as respondent Jagdish Pande ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... malik. After they all reached the godown Bhagwati opened the lid on the back side of the van where there were petrol tins. Bhagwati and Mahadeo asked Udami and Shivaram to sprinkle petrol on the goods in the godown. After some hesitation they obeyed them. The room on the first floor as well as the rooms on the ground floor were locked at the time. Bhagwati Ram handed over the key of the ground floor rooms to Udami who opened the locks. He and Shivaram then sprinkled petrol over the goods in the northern room. Thereafter they came to the southern room. After Udami had sprinkled petrol over a portion of the goods he left the work as he was unable to stand the smell. Then Srilal himself took up the work of sprinkling. At this stage Bhagwati and Mahadeo sent for Nagendra Mistri who came with a screw-driver and other implements. Nagendra also sprinkled petrol on the goods in the southern room on being asked to do so. Thereafter the doors of the rooms were kept slammed shut. Bhagwati Ram, Shivaram, Nagendra Mistri and Mahadeo Lal then went upstairs. Nagendra Mistri opened the door of the first floor by removing the rings etc. and Shivaram carried petrol upstairs. After petrol had ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... il police station and had his residence at Tilku Manjhi. On that night he was returning home on a cycle after attending a cinema show which had ended at about 12-15 a.m. As he came near a crossing known as Adampur Chouraha he heard the sound of an explosion from the east at about 12-30 a.m. As he reached near the gate of the house of Rani Chandravati, which was at some distance to the east of Adampur crossing he saw a car bearing No, BRA 3387 going from east to west at high speed. He recognised the car as belonging to the Mill. As he reached the Mill he found the employees in a perturbed state of mind. When questioned they were unable to give him any satisfactory answer about the incident. Inside the Mill he found flames and smoke on the south-western side. He immediately telephoned to the Fire Brigade Office. He also met Udami Maharaj (P. W. 1) in the Mill area. While he was moving with Udami Maharaj he saw the car bearing No. BRA 3387 entering through the gate and stopping near the office or gaddi. It was the same car which he had seen passing near the gate of Rani Chandravati. Srilal and his younger brother Murli emerged from the car. Srilal enquired from the Sub-Inspector as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e. Srilal had also arrived at the Mill premises sometime after Sub-Inspector Mahadeo Prasad Singh (P. W. 54) reached there. Some time after 4 a.m. Nagendra Mistri's wife (P. W. 55) came and identified her husband's dead body. At this stage Sub-Inspector Mahadeo Pd. Singh (P. W. 54) discovered the dead body of Bhagwati Babu amongst the debris to the east of the collapsed building. A wrist watch was tied round his wrist. On his person there was a dhoti and a ganji. The third dead body of Shivaram had not till then been identified. His brother Hari Pd. Sharma (P.W.8) came to the Mill and identified the dead body. Thereafter the Sub-Inspector arrested Srilal, Bhola Singh and Bhola Mandar. Photographs were also taken of the entire scene of occurrence including the dead bodies etc. The dead bodies were sent to the Sadar hospital for postmortem examination and thereafter the Sub-Inspector made a detailed inspection of the place of occurrence. To the south of the gaddi room he found the car bearing No. BRA 3387, one private motor delivery van and two motor trucks. The trucks appeared to be out of order. In course of his inspection the Sub-Inspector found a Godrej key at a distan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... which the building in question within the premises of Shree Bhagwati Hosiery Mills got demolished was caused by a gaseous explosive mixture. From the fact that a small percentage of petroleum was found soaked in the pieces of cloth and ganji cuttings mentioned above, it appears that one or more compartments of 'the building contained just before the accident inflammable vapour in admixture with air in a concentration which was within the explosive limits for that mixture . Udami Maharaj (P. W. I) who had left the Mill premises 071 the night of occurrence with Srilal remained in hiding at Bhagalpur for three days. He was then advised by respondent Mahadeo and Murli to leave Bhagalpur as the police were searching for him. They asked him to go to Samastipur and stay with their priest Dhanna Maharaj. Murli gave him ₹ 50/- and on receipt, of this money Udami left for Samastipur. Before leaving he handed over the key of his room in the Mill premises to Murli asking him to take charge of his articles consisting of 11 1/2 tolas of gold ornaments and 60 tolas of silver ornaments which had been pledged with him by debtors besides a cash of ₹ 300/- and other articles. At t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is mind to return to Bhagalpur and make a statement about the true facts. Accordingly he came to Nathnasar in Bhagalpur in the first half of December 1953. He was, however, unable to meet Srilal whereupon he went to Calcutta where he stayed for 20 or 25 days. There he met Srilal and Mahadeo. He once again demanded his money but they told him that he should first make statement to the police and then payment would be made to him. Thereafter Udami Maharaj came to Bhagalpur on 3-1-54. He surrendered in court on the following day, that is, 4-1-54. He filed a petition before the Subdivisional Officer through a Mukhtear named Habeeb Babu. From the court of the Subdivisional Officer he was taken by a peon to the court of Mr. Haque, a Magistrate, at about 4 p.m. where he made a confessional statement. After the confession was recorded he was again taken to the residence of the Subdivisional Officer along with his Mukhtear. The Subdivisional Officer read over the statement to him once again whereupon Udami Maharaj told him that there was an omission in it. The Subdivisional Officer asked him to go to Mr. Haque again, Udami Maharaj was taken to Mr. Haque, hut the latter said that he was u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wn from the car and go on foot after putting off his cap and kurta. At the same time Bhagwati Ram is alleged to have directed the driver to go back and call Srilal. When Srilal came the explosion had already occurred. He pleaded that he remained in the Mill premises till he was arrested at about 8 or 9 a.m. He denied that he had removed the kurta and topi of his father from the Mill premises at night. He alleged that the explosion was very likely brought about by Udami Maharaj with the help of Shivaram, Nagendra Mistri, Mathura Singh and the dismissed employees. 14. Bhola Mander has supported the above defence. 15. Mahadeo Lal has denied that there was any conspiracy between him and Bhagwati Ram to destroy the godown. According to him he was at Colgong on that night. He alleged that he had ill-feeling with Udami Maharaj as he used to tease him on account of his being one-eyed. 16. Jagdish Pandey the Godown Keeper of the Imperial Bank, also denied the charges. He further asserted that the allegation that he used to help Bhagwati Ram and others in surreptitiously removing goods from the godown or that Bhagwati Ram had given him two motor trucks by way of reward is false. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d Shivaram sprinkled petrol on being threatened by Bhagwati but in court he merely stated that he and Shivaram did the act on being cajoled to do so. (4) In his confession the approver did not mention who actually opened the ground-floor rooms but in evidence he stated that he himself did it. (5) He gave details as to how petrol was sprinkled On the goods in the first floor room but admittedly he was not competent to speak on the point as he did not go there. (6) The story, of the approver that 8 or 10 big tins each containing 4 gallons and 16 or 20 small tins each containing 2 gallons of petrol were sprinkled was improbable. (7) The expert's opinion as to the explosion having been caused by petroleum vapour was not fit to be accepted. (8) Nobody who came to the Mill soon after the explosion spoke of having smelt petrol. 20. Grounds Nos. 2 to 5 do not really affect the prosecution case as to the cause of the five. As to ground No. 1, I shall consider it when I discuss the question of conspiracy. The remaining grounds urged by the learned judge are also not convincing and he appears to me to have gone completely wrong in holding that any material other than ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of Crime has fully discussed the behaviour of petroleum as a cause of fire and explosion. At page 239 (1958 edition) the learned author states; The layman imagines that petrol just burns when ignited. In fact, petrol always explodes when a light or spark is applied to it. After the lower boiling fractions have been removed in either way the residue will burn albeit very vigorously but the initial effect is an explosion. The author has also referred to a case in this connection : A young man purchased a, business which he subsequently found was not as profitable as he had been led to believe. He soon started to lose money and so he decided to recover his capital by setting fire to the building and collecting the insurance money. Accordingly, he collected a pile of newspapers and brought two gallons of petrol to the premises. He placed the pile of newspapers in the cellar under the wooden steps and poured the petrol on to the papers. Then, standing on the steps, he threw a match on to the heap. There was an explosion which blew the man up the steps and out of the window and a fire followed the explosion. When this was put out by the Fire. Brigade the floor of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Ram. Both he and Shivaram sprinkled petrol in the northern room. This operation started at about 10-15 p.m. Petrol was sprinkled in the southern room partly by the approver and partly by Srilal and Shivaram, Nagendra Mistri who came on being called also sprinkled petrol there. Thereafter the door was slammed, shut, Bhagwati Ram, Shivaram, Nagendra Mistri and Mahadeo then went upstairs. Nagendra Mistri opened the room with the instruments brought by him. Shivaram took petrol upstairs. After petrol was sprinkled there they all came down and Mahadeo left the Mill premises with the key. Srilal also then left with Mathura Singh Ghoukidar. The total time taken in sprinkling petrol was one hour and 25 minutes. During the operation Bhagwati was carrying a torch and was wearing only a ganji and a dhoti having left his kurta and cap in the gaddi room. Nagendra Mistri lighted a match stick and threw it in the southern room. As it did not kindle the fire immediately the approver was directed to faring kerosene oil. The approver went to the stores for kerosene oil and heard the explosion followed by smoke and fire immediately he reached there. He ran to the gaddi and sent a telephonic mes ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tification. 26. The approver undoubtedly made his confessional statement about seven months after the occurrence. The learned Judge, however, himself found that there was sufficient explanation for this delay. (After reviewing the evidence, his Lordship proceeded.) On a review of the evidence I think that no case has been made out for rejecting the evidence of the approver so far as the manner of occurrence is concerned. As to whether his account with respect to the persons participating in the crime is concerned can be accepted in toto is however, a matter which I shall discuss hereafter. 27. The question next is : To what extent has the approver's evidence regarding the occurrence been corroborated? In discussing the evidence or the approver what the learned Judge appears to have done was to segregate the incidents deposed to by the approver and seek their corroboration in isolation--a procedure which appears to me to have been erroneous. The nature and extent of corroboration necessary is such a case has been laid down in Rameshwar v. State of Rajasthan AIR 1952 SC 54. Their Lordships have held: ''It would be impossible, indeed it would be dangerous, to for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m Sharma of Bhiyani, in the district of Hissar, (P. W. 38) who is the bhagina of the approver has deposed that in the middle of July 1953 Udami Maharaj came to his house in Bhiyani. The witness found his uncle to be depressed and upset. On his enquiry Udami Maharaj narrated the entire occurrence to him. The motive for the occurrence, the manner in which the godown was set fire to and the names of all the participant; in the crime formed the subject of this disclosure. This statement was made by Udami Maharaj as early as could reasonably be expected in the circumstances of the case and is undoubtedly admissible under Section 157 of the Evidence Act although the evidentiary value of the statement, emanating from the same tainted source, is not very high. The learned Judge was of the view that this witness must in law be deemed to have been an accomplice, and hence no reliance should be placed upon his testimony. In this connection he has referred to the case of Ismail v. Emperor AIR 1947 Lah 220. According to the learned judge since the witness had harboured the approver even after the disclosure he must be deemed to have been an accessory after the fact. The ruling relied upon by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld that the witness is an accomplice. As, however, pointed out before, the evidence of this witness is not of much probative value since he has deposed only to the statement of the approver himself. There is, however, no bar to the statement of the approver being used as corroboration, whatever be the value of his evidence in court. 30. Another witness on whose evidence the prosecution has relied for corroborating the evidence of the approver is Mathura Singh (P. W. 10). (On a review of the evidence, his Lordship held that this witness was an accomplice and that he was at least a principal in the second degree. His Lordship then proceeded.) For all these reasons I do not consider Mm to be a witness on whom any reliance can be placed. His evidence must, I think, be ruled out of consideration. 31. Even if, however, his evidence is left out of account there is sufficient independent evidence to show that the approver's statement regarding the manner in which the occurrence took place is true. 32. All the respondents were charged in the court below with criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. An important question arises as to whether having regard ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Section 109 makes this quite clear. An offence is said to be committed in consequence of abetment, when it is committed in pursuance of the conspiracy, and the abettor by conspiracy is made punishable (under Section 109) with the punishment provided for the actual offence . The Bombay High Court in Emperor v. Karamalli Gulamalli AIR 1938 Bom 481 has taken a contrary view, but we are bound by the decision of this Court. The question of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B not being relevant the only question for decision is whether the respondents had participated in the crime or abetted the commission of the offence. 33. On behalf of the prosecution it has been contended that the evidence of the approver which is fully corroborated by the circumstances proves beyond doubt that amongst the participants in the crime were the three persons whose dead bodies were found on the spot soon after the occurrence. There is no doubt that these dead bodies prima facie show that Bhagwati Ram, Shivaram and Nagendra Mistri had actually taken part in the crime. Mr. S. N. Sahay has, however, strenuously urged that Bhagwati Ram had absolutely no motive for committing this heinous crime and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ble to destroy the goods and realise money from the Insurance companies. There would have been profit even though the goods were as the books show, worth ₹ 2,51,202 for the Mill could not have at a time disposed of all those goods and got rid of the debts , This finding of the learned Judge is fully borne out by the evidence on the record and I agree with it. There was, therefore, a reasonable motive for the crime. 34-35. The defence contention that the crime was committed by Shivaram, Nagendra Mistri and several other dissatisfied workers does not bear scrutiny. (His Lordship scrutinised the evidence and proceeded). The learned Judge's finding that the explosion was brought about by Bhagwati Ram, Shivaram, Nagendra Mistry, the approver and others must, therefore, be held to be correct. 36-40. The principal question for decision now is whether the evidence on the record is sufficient to connect the respondents with the crime. It would be convenient at this stage to consider the case of each individual accused separately: Srilal--' (His Lordship discussed the evidence and proceeded). On a review of the evidence I am, therefore, of opinion that the prose ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... but by the time he reached the building had caught fire and the godown had fallen down. In the written statement filed by Sri Lal he made out that he later on learnt from the driver, Bhota Mandar that his father having been informed by a stranger that an act of sabotage was to be committed, went to the Mill in the car and moved incognito by putting off his Kurta and topi in the gaddi in order to prevent the mischief so imminent at that time. The learned Assistant Sessions Judge has held that the version of the occurrence given by Srilal was not worthy of credence. But even then, the crucial question is as to whether the finding of the dead body of Bhagwati Ram was such a circumstance that it conclusively established his participation in the crime. The defence of Srilal that his father went to the Mill in the circumstances alleged by him, has not been proved , but the finding of the dead body of his father does not rule out the possibility of his father having gone to the Mill a few minutes before the incident to find out what kind of mischief was likely to bo committed. In my opinion, the chain of evidence in the present case is not complete and by the mere finding of the dead ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
