79
light of these binding principles this court would now examine whether the
circumstances supported by evidence, i.e., those accepted by this court in the
previous part of the judgement, was of such conclusion as to stand the test of the
five golden principles enunciated in Sarda (supra).
Summation of proof of circumstances
152. The prosecution relied upon several circumstances which were accepted
concurrently by the Courts below. These were the depositions of PW-10 the
chance witness who claimed to have witnessed all three accused fleeing the spot
around 5:45 or 6:00 PM on the day of the incident; the recovery of articles from
the crime scene (fired cartridge, live bullet, sunglasses, black beads, etc.) and
lifting of the fingerprints (testified by PW-24 and corroborated by witnesses
PW-5 and PW-9); and seizure of stolen articles pursuant to disclosure by the
accused. PW-1 who recorded his statement a day after the incident (on
21.06.2011), specifically reported the loss of jewellery items such as four pairs
of bangles, mangalsutra, ATM cards, etc. These were later recovered at the
direction of the accused, which the prosecution claimed to be a breakthrough.
153. It was found by the courts below that Neha was arrested in the morning of
22.06.2011 after she was found suspiciously loitering by PW-28. The arrest
occurred after she was searched and later questioned. The arrest was witnessed
PW-3 and PW-6 who also deposed to witnessing the police recording Neha’s
disclosure statement. Recoveries of valuables and articles, such as two pairs of
golden bangles, part of a broken mangalsutra, other valuables and an ATM card,
which belong to Megha were from her house. Neha’s disclosure statement about
the involvement of other accused (Rahul and Manoj) led to their arrest and
disclosure statements on the same day – all of which was witnessed by PW-3
and PW-6. Again, gold jewellery items were recovered from Rahul’s premises
as also a country-made pistol, and subsequently, a knife. In addition, a
photograph with him wearing sunglasses was seized from his house. Manoj was
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents