text stringlengths 5 5.67k |
|---|
(ii) The accused had gained the confidence of the deceased as a sincere and loyal worker by attending to the work every day even after the banking hours and assisting the deceased, leaving the Bank at about 9 or 9.30 p.m. with the deceased as was clear from the evidence of PW 5 Rangarajan, PW 6 Smt.Shasikala, PW 9 Govi... |
(iii) The accused had the opportunity of knowing about the cash balance available in the Bank from the cash scroll register Exh.P 8 which was always kept open on the table of PW 6 Smt.Shasikala whose seat was adjacent to that of the accused as is clear from the testimony of PW. 6 FAC |
(iv) The accused had knowledge about the availability of the first set of keys including the matter key with the deceased and the second set of keys with PW 16 Chandrasekara Holla while he worked in the Bank for a period of about nine months. FAC |
He also noticed that PW 16 was in the habit of leaving of second set of keys in the cupboard of his table and at times, used to leave the key of the cupboard in one of the drawers. FAC |
(v) The movement and conduct of the accused afterwards. FAC |
After he was seen coming out of the Bank premises on that night at 9 p.m., his act of going towards Burma Bazar and returning within half an hour with a light blue colour suitcase, then entering into the Bank, again coming out of the Bank half an hour thereafter with a bag on his shoulder and a suitcase in one hand and... |
(vi) His act of not responding to the queries put by PW 18 about the deceased whom he used to accompany every night on closing the Bank. FAC |
(vii) His act of not returning to the Christian Home where he stayed and instead staying at Hotel Chola Sheraton on the night of 20th and the whole of 21st. FAC |
He obviously stayed at the five star hotel for reasons of safety as he was carrying the huge amount of about Rs.14 lakhs. FAC |
(viii) His visit to Christian Home early in the morning of 21st at 5 a.m., going to the room, taking bath, collecting his belongings and not taking breakfast saying that his stomach was upset. FAC |
(ix) His act of attending to his duties at the Bank on the 21st to allay suspicion, making reservation of a first class berth by train No. 27 and leaving Madras for Mangalore on the morning of the 22nd which was a Sunday (x) On reaching Mangalore 722 on the 23rd morning at 6 a.m., his act of not proceeding to the famil... |
(xi) His act of disappearing from Madras on the 23rd morning and not returning till 27th afternoon. FAC |
(xii) The fact remains that the currency notes worth Rs,12,32,000 recovered from the accused bear the Bank seal and have been identified to be stolen. FAC |
We had the benefit of hearing Shri N. Natarajan, learned counsel for the appellants who argued the appeal with considerable perspicuity and resource and an equally forceful and realistic argument advanced by Shri U.R. Lalit, learned counsel appearing for the State Government. FAC |
Apart from questioning the credibility and trustworthiness of PW 18 Smt.Kanaka, the flower vendor, whom the learned counsel for the appellants characterised as a got up witness by the prosecution to furnish the missing links the chain of circumstances, as well as the alleged recoveries of Rs.4,500 effected by PW 50 Dev... |
He contends that the prosecution case regarding the recovery of the stolen amount at Madras stands falsified by the news item carried in the Indian Express, Malai Murasu and Makkal Kural of the 29th and Dina Thanthi of the 30th showing that the entire amount had been recovered from the residence of appellant No. 2 Shiv... |
The learned counsel also brought out several improbabilities in the prosecuion case. FAC |
It was pointed out that the accused had left Madras by the West Coast Express on the 22nd morning and reached Mangalore on the next day i.e. on the 23rd. FAC |
If that be so, both the father and the son were freely moving about at Mangalore till the 26th evening. FAC |
On the 23rd they paid a visit to the clinic of PW 11 Dr. Madhava Bhandari as the accused was complaining of stomach disorder and thereafter on the 25th evening they called on PW 10 P. Raghuram, Chairman of the Bank who advised the accused to return to Madras at once. FAC |
It was not till 26th evening that the accused boarded the West Coast Express. FAC |
The learned counsel contends that if really PW 50 became aware from recording of the statement of PW 18 on the 25th evening at 4 p.m. that the accused was the person involved in the commission of murder and robbery, he would have at once flashed a message to the Mangalore police to intercept him particularly in view of... |
On their own 723 showing, a police party consisting of PW 50 accompanied by PW 49 instead left for Mangalore in the early hours of 26th morning, reaching there at 9.30 p.m. and contacted the local police and thereafter conducted a raid at the house of appellant No. 2 in the early hours of the 27th at 1 a.m. FAC |
The police would necessarily have known from the railway reservation that the accused Laxmi Raj Shetty under the assumed name of his father Shivaram Shetty, had boarded the West Coast Express for Madras on the 26th. FAC |
They would have immediately contacted the Madras police and intercepted the accused on his arrival at the Madras Central on the 27th afternoon at 4 p.m. FAC |
The submission is that this lends credence to the testimony of PW 9 Govindaraj that the accused arrived by the West Bengal Coast Express on the 27th afternoon and was taken into custody by the police. FAC |
We are expected to believe, the learned counsel argues, that the accused was freely roaming about in Madras between the 27th and the 29th till he was taken into custody at My Lady 's Park. ARG |
It is therefore submitted that the prosecution evidence of the so called recovery of the incriminating currency notes worth Rs.4,500 from the accused Laxmi Raj Shetty could not be true. ARG |
As regards the testimony of PW 18 Smt. FAC |
If really PW 47 had derived knowledge from Ganesan, the plumber, that PW 18 might furnish a vital clue which would lead to the detection of the murderer, it was expected from PW 47 and PW 48, who took over the investigation from him, that they would make every effort to track down PW 18 or her husband. ARG |
Further, the learned counsel contends that the repeated visits made by PWs 47 and 48 to Tharamani when on their own showing they knew that PW 18 had gone to her sister 's house at Vyasarpadi, creates considerable doubt about his version. ARG |
Nor did they take the trouble to track down her husband Neerappan from the Krishna Bhawan Hotel which was just two furlongs from the police station. Ratio |
According to the learned counsel, the cumulative effect of all these circumstances taken together renders it extremely unsafe to rely on the sole testimony of PW 18 unless it was corroborated in material particulars by evidence of an independent character. Ratio |
In reply Shri U.R. Lalit, learned counsel for the respondent mainly contends that even if the prosecution evidence regarding the 724 recoveries were to be discarded, there was ample material brought on record which raises an inference of guilt of the appellants. ARG |
Broadly stated, the learned counsel, in substance, advanced a two fold submission, namely: (i) The course of investigation during which it was revealed that PW 18 Smt.Kanaka had information which might result in solving the murder, and (ii) The fact as deposed by PW 18 that the accused Laxmi Raj Shetty was the person l... |
As regards the news item which appeared in the Indian Express and the other regional papers showing that the entire amount stolen from the Bank had been recovered on a search of the house of appellant No. 2 Shivaram Shetty at Mangalore and that they have both been taken into custody, the learned counsel contends that t... |
It is pointed out that the defence had not examined the reporters who had gathered the news appearing in the newspapers and authenticate the version though the reporters had been summoned. Ratio |
Further, in a case of this nature, the Court cannot reject the oher reliable and credible evidence led in accordance with law merely on the publication of this kind of unauthenticated news item in the press. Ratio |
It is said that if the Court were to act on such news item though not brought into evidence in accordance with law and were inclined to dispose of a case on such news item, then the Court had either to convict a person or acquit him on such publication of news item ignorning the overwhelming legal evidence brought on r... |
There is in our opinion, considerable force in his submissions. Ratio |
The law relating to the proof of a case based purely on circumstantial evidence has been settled by several authorities of this Court as well as of the High Court. Ratio |
In Earabhadrappa vs State of Karnataka, ; it was observed: "In cases in which the evidence is purely of a circumstantial nature, the facts and circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is sought to be drawn must be fully established beyond any reasonable doubt and the circumstances so es tablished should not onl... |
Shri Natarajan, learned counsel appearing for the appellants rightly points out that in such cases there is always the danger that 'conjecture or suspicion may take the place of legal proof ' and draws our attention to the caution administered by Baron Alderson to the jury in the oft quoted passage in Reg vs Hodge, whe... |
" It is therefore well to remember that in cases where the evidence is of a circumstantial nature, the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should in the first intance be fully established, and all the facts so established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accu... |
Again, the circumstances should be of a conclusive nature and tendency and they should be such as to exclude every hypothesis but the one proposed to be proved. Ratio |
In other words, there must be a chain of evidence so far complete as not to leave any reasonable ground for a conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and it must be such as to show that within all human probability the act must have been done by the accused. Ratio |
In spite of the forceful arguments addressed to us by the learned counsel for the appellants, we have not been able to discover any infirmity in the reasoning or the conclusions arrived at by the learned Additional Sessions Judge or the High Court. Ratio |
Nor can it be said that they have just fallen into an error against which caution was administered by Baron Alderson in Reg vs Hodge. Ratio |
The learned counsel began his address by stating that if we were to accept the conclusion arrived at by the learned Additional Sessions Judge and the High Court that there was nothing to impeach the credibility of PW 18 Smt.Kanaka, the flower vendor as a truthful witness and that her evidence was such as to accord with... |
That really furnishes a key to the entire prosecution case. Ratio |
We have therefore minutely been taken through the testimony of PW 18 Smt.Kanaka by learned counsel for the parties who presented their respective points of view with consummate skill, and after going through her evidence over and over again we have no doubt whatever that the Courts below were perfectly justified in rea... |
Once the version of PW 18 Smt.Kanaka that the accused was the person last seen leaving the Bank premises on the 20th night at 9 p.m. is accepted with all his subsequent movements, it would be seen that every other circumstance appearing from the evidence of the other prosecution witnesses fits in and it lends support t... |
We shall briefly enumerate the circumstances arising from the evidence adduced by the prosecution along with our findings thereon. Ratio |
(1) The accused had occasion to learn the method of operating the safety vault. Ratio |
It transpires from the evidence of PW 3 P.T. Rajan, Chief Manager and Regional Development Officer of the Bank that in that building the Regional Development Office was functioning on the second floor. Ratio |
The Main Branch was on the first floor and the ground floor was used as a car park and godown. Ratio |
The strong room was on a mezzanine floor over the first floor and reached by a flight of stairs. Ratio |
The walls of the strong room were constructed with RCC. Ratio |
There was an iron door fixed to that room supplied by Godrej company of the thickness of 3" having a dimension of 6 ft x 3 ft. Ratio |
There was a rotating wheel fitted to the iron door. Ratio |
It had to be turned to the right and then both the sets of keys inserted in the upper and lower key holes. Ratio |
On the lever being released the iron door would open outside. Ratio |
Inside there was another door with a lock attached and it would open inside. Ratio |
The strong room was divided by a partition wall with a wooden door. Ratio |
In one portion of the strong room there were safe deposit lockers. Ratio |
In the other portion there were two Godrej bureaux, of which one was used for keeping currency notes and the other for keeping valuable documents viz. blank term deposit receipts, cheque books, drafts etc. Ratio |
It is in evidence that there was no night watchman of the Bank. Ratio |
It appears from the testimony of PW 8 Ananthakrishnan, PW 9 727 Govindaraj, PW 12 Balasubramaniam and PW 16 Chandrasekara Holla that the accused gathered knowledge about the manner in which the strong room could be operated. Ratio |
It is clear from their evidence that access to the strong room could not be had except by a person acquainted with the manner in which it was operated. Ratio |
According to these witnesses the accused got an opportunity when in the first week of April, the wife and children of PW 8 Ananthakrishnan, Bank Manager visited the Bank and evinced a desire to see how the safety vault was operated. Ratio |
While he was going up the stairs along with the members of his family and PW 12 Balasubramaniam, attendant, the accused who was standing with PW 9, expressed a desire to come up and see the strong room. Ratio |
Although taken aback at the unusual request, PW 8 permitted them to come up. Ratio |
With his inquisitiveness the accused cleared all his doubts about the mode of operating the safety vault and gained sufficient knowledge. Ratio |
From the evidence of PWs 5,6,9,12 and 16 it is amply clear that the accused Laxmi Raj Shetty gained the confidence of the deceased as a busy and hard working young man by remaining in the premises and continuing to work even after the banking hours and assisting the deceased in disposing of the day 's work. Ratio |
He also had knowledge about the availability of the first set of keys of the strong room with the deceased and must have noticed that PW 16 Chandrasekara Holla, who had the custody of the second set of keys, was in the habit of leaving them in the cupboard of his Godrej table. Ratio |
It appears from the evidence of PW 15 V. Kannan, Manager in the Physical Development Institute that on the 20th at about 6 p.m. the accused left the Institute within half an hour after doing some exercises. Ratio |
P 8 which was kept open on the table of PW 6, which was adjacent to the table of the accused. Ratio |
(2) The fact that the accused Laxmi Raj Shetty was last seen leaving the Bank premises. Ratio |
Kanaka, the flower vendor, tends to show that after finishing the day 's work, she came and sat on the steps of the Bank. Ratio |
At about 9 p.m. she saw the accused coming out of the Bank premises and locking the outer glass door. Ratio |
She testifies that she used to sell flowers at the junction of Thambu Chetty Street and Errabalu Chetty Street, not far from the Bank. Ratio |
According to her, she was originally residing at Vyasarpadi but six months prior to the occurrence she shifted her residence to village Tharamani. Ratio |
Her version is that every day she used to begin selling 728 flowers in the day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and thereafter return to her house but on Thursdays and Fridays due to rush of customers she was constrained to remain late upto 9 p.m. and since she could not get a bus at that hour, she used to sleep on the raised pla... |
She knew the deceased Gnanasambandham who used to buy flowers from her, as well as the accused Laxmi Raj Shetty as they both used to come out of the Bank together at night. Ratio |
The deceased would give the keys to the accused who would lock the outer glass door and thereafter pull down the shutters and lock the same and return the keys. Ratio |
The deceased would then check the locks and thereafter both would leave the premises. Ratio |
She distinctly remembered that on Friday prior to the incident the deceased while buying flowers enquired from her whether she used to sleep there and she had to explain that on thursdays and Fridays she could not go back home due to late hours as there was no connecting bus. Ratio |
That was the last when she saw the deceased alive. Ratio |
On the night in question while she was sitting on the steps of the Bank after finishing her day 's work she saw the accused Laxmi Raj Shetty coming out of the Bank premises alone by opening the glass door, closing the same and proceeding towards Errabalu Chetty Street. Ratio |
After about half an hour the accused came out of the Bank by opening the glass door with the suitcase in one hand, a bag on his shoulder and the briefcase which the deceased used to carry, in the other. Ratio |
He kept the suitcase on the steps of the Bank where she was sitting and re entered the premises and brought out a large coffee colour skybag and kept the same beside the suitcase, locked the glass door, pulled down the shutters and locked the same. Ratio |
She states that when the accused pulled down the shutters she asked him whether the Periya Ayya, evidently referring to the deceased, had not come, the accused did not give any reply. Ratio |
Thinking that he had not understood her words properly, she repeated the same query to which there was no response. Ratio |
After locking the shutters the accused went towards Errabalu Chetty Street leaving the suitcase and the skybag on the steps of the Bank. Ratio |
It was a festival day and the deity of Kaliamman Koil was passing along Thambu Chetty Street. Ratio |
PW 18 was feeling unwell and wanted to offer camphor to the deity but could not leave the place because the accused had left the suitcases on the steps. Ratio |
The deity was taken in a procession through the street, Thereafter, according to her, the 729 accused came in an auto rickshaw and with the help of the autorickshaw driver the accused carried and placed the suitcase and the skybag with some difficulty. Ratio |
When she queried why had he left the suitcase when there were a large number of auto rickshaws passing that way, the accused did not give any reply. Ratio |
She further states that as she was running temperature she slept on the steps of the Bank. Ratio |
Early next morning at 6 a.m. she left for her house at Tharamani and from there she went to her sister 's place at Vyasariadi after informing her husband. Ratio |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.