Laxmi Bai Rajput vs The State of Madhya Pradesh

U.C. Maheshwari, J.—In compliance of earlier order dated 6.9.2014, Shri Naresh Sharma, S. D. O. (P). Narsinghpur, investigation officer of Crime No.585/2014 and earlier investigation officer of such case Shri R. P. Kusmakar, SHO Gotegaon along with the photo copy of the case diary are present in person.

In the last order sheet dated 16.9.2014, Crime number of aforesaid case is stated as Crime No.585/13 while the correct Crime number is 585/14, hence such number is corrected by me in such order and at the place of Crime No.585/13 the Crime No.585/14 has been mentioned. The same be read accordingly.

The said Senior Police Officer and investigating officer of the aforesaid crime apprised me that on 7.9.2013 a missing person report bearing No.59/13, was registered at the instance of present petitioner Laxmi Bai at P. S. Gotegaon, according to which the husband of the petitioner namely Govind Singh Rajput was missing since 3.9.2013 and during the inquiry of such missing person report on establishing the circumstance of committing the offence on 13.9.2014 a Crime No.585/14 was registered at such police station against Pawan Patel, Arjun Patel and Manoj Choudhary for the offence punishable under Section 364 r/w 120/ 34 of IPC. In the course of aforesaid inquiry/investigation the police Gotegaon came to know that some unknown dead body having ante-mortem injuries was found on 4.9.2013 near Shahnala Garha, Jabalpur in the territorial jurisdiction of Police Station Garha. On receiving such information a merg intimation No.88/2013 was registered on 4.9.2013 at P. S. Garha, Jabalpur and such dead body after preparing the panchnama and seizing the articles found on the same was sent to hospital for postmortem. On carrying out the autopsy the death of corpus was found to be of culpable homicide in nature, on which crime No.638/13 was registered at police station Garha on dated 4.9.2013 against unknown person for the offence of Section 302/ 34 of IPC. In such merg inquiry inspite making effort the corpus and his whereabouts could not be identified, on which in accordance with the procedure the same was buried but later the seized clothes and other articles of the dead body was identified by the petitioner to be the clothes and articles of her husband Govind Singh Rajput, on which in accordance with the procedure his corpus was again taken out from the buried and identification process was carried out in which on the basis of some physical mark and circumstances the petitioner has identified the same as corpus of her husband Govind Singh Rajput.

In continuation of the inquiry of aforesaid missing person report No.59/13, registered at P. S. Gotetaon the Crime No.585/14 was registered on 13.9.2014 against Pawan Patel, Arjun Patel and Manoj Choudhary for the offence punishable under Section 364 r/w 34 of IPC.

As the missing person report No.59/13 was registered at P. S. Gotegaon at the instance of the petitioner on 7.9.2013 and Crime No.585/14 was registered at such P. S. Gotegaon on 13.9.2014 subsequent to registration of merg intimation No.88/13 and crime No.638/14 at Police Station Garha on 4.9.2013 the merg and crime registered at P. S. Garha being earlier to the registration of missing person report and crime at P. S. Gotegaon the case diary of missing person report No.59/13 as well as the case diary of Crime No.585/14 have been transferred by him on 19.9.2014 from P. S. Gotegaon to the P. S. Garha to investigate the matter with Crime No.638/13. Thereafter, further investigation of the case is being carried out by the P. S. Garha. In such premises, he said that at present no proceeding or investigation of the case is pending at P. S. Gotegaon. Such submission of the Senior Police Officer S. D. O. (P.), Narsinghpur is taken on record.

Taking into consideration the aforesaid submission of the Senior Police Officer, according to which missing person report No.59/13 so also the case diary of Crime No.585/14 of the Police Station Gotegaon have been transferred to P. S. Garha, such officer Shri Naresh Sharma, S. D. O. (P.) Narsinghpur and Shri R. P. Kusmakar, SHO Gotegaon are exempted from their personal appearance in this petition.

At this stage State counsel apprises me that Phagan Singh Markam, S. I. Police Posted at Police Station Garha and the investigation officer of Crime No.638/13, registered at his police station is also present in person along with the case diary of such crime No.638/13. The presence of such police official is taken on record.

Shri Markam apprises me that according to case diary of Crime No.638/13 the appropriate steps to verify and identify the dead body of impugned crime, recovered on 4.9.2014, was carried out in which the same was found to be of Govind Singh Rajput. In the course of investigation the dead body was again taken out from the buried on 19.9.2014 and on the basis of some physical construction and marks on the corpus the same was identified by the petitioner Laxmi Bai, as corpus of her husband Govind Singh Rajput. Earlier she also identified the clothes and other articles which were found and seized from the corpus, as of her husband Govind Singh Rajput, on which dead body was taken out from the buried to identify the same by her as stated above. In further investigation the formal arrest of the alleged accused namely Pawan Patel, Arjun Patel and Manoj Choudhary are yet to be taken through concerning court as they had already been arrested in Crime No.585/14 registered at P. S. Gotegaon and send to the judicial custody. He also said that he has received the case diary of such crime No.585/14 on 26.9.2014.

At this stage the counsel of the petitioner submits that although Police Gotegaon has arrested aforesaid three accused of the case but there is one more accused namely Kalyan Patel for whom no steps have have been taken to arrest him by any of the aforesaid police either Gotegaon or Garha, on which the SDO (P) Narsinghpur apprises me that in the course of investigation he called such Kalyan Patel for interrogation on three-four occasions but till then no sufficient circumstance to show his involvement in the crime was established, therefore, he was not arrested and after transferring the case to P. S. Garha, it is a duty of investigation Officer of such Police Garha to investigate the matter further and if any circumstance is found against such Kalyan Patel then he may be arrested by P. S. Garha.

Shri Markam Investigation Officer of Crime No.638/13 apprises me that the matter being under investigation, he will investigate the same in this line also, and if there is any allegation against Kalyan Patel for committing the alleged cognizable offence then he may proceed to arrest him also in near future. I hope and trust on the aforesaid investigation officers as well as the police officer of such police station Garha that in view of the allegation made by the complainant/ petitioner, the wife of the deceased, if prima-facie ingredients of the alleged cognizable offence are made out against Kalyan Patel in the aforesaid crimes then in compliance of the settled proposition of law at the appropriate stage of investigation he shall take appropriate steps to arrest such Kalyan Patel. If there is any allegation with ingredients of cognizable offence against any person then there is no option with the investigation officer except to arrest him first in accordance with the spirit of the provision of Section 41 of Cr. P. C. and investigate the matter further.

In view of aforesaid information supplied by the police officers prima facie it is established that initially missing person Govind Singh Rajput was abducted and thereafter he has been murdered and subsequent to that his corpus has also been recovered and identified. So in such premises the production of corpus of said Govind Singh Rajput is not possible for the police or other State authorities, therefore this petition being filed in the nature of habeas corpus for issuing appropriate direction to the authorities to trace out and produce the corpus of Govind Singh Rajput before this Court do not require any further consideration, specially when after registration of the offence further investigation of the case is being carried out by the Police Garha. As such in the available circumstances, this petition does not require any further consideration. Consequently, with the aforesaid discussion, observation and direction this petition is disposed of.