The mere mention of the name in the suicide note is not sufficient to award a sentence unless other evidence shows that it is not riddled with lies: HC
Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that the mere mention of the name in the suicide note is not sufficient to convict unless other evidence shows that it is true and does not suffer from any aura of falsehood.
A bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur was considering an appeal challenging the judgment passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, where the accused were convicted of offenses punishable under sections 306 and 34 of the IPC.
In this case, the complainant's father Satbir (since deceased) had taken a CC limit of Rs 75.0 lakh from Punjab National Bank. Sharvan Kumar (second accused) was acting as a middleman and his father obtained the facility of CC limit from the bank with the help of the acquitted accused.
Pradeep Sharma, owner of M/s Shyam Trading Company, has obtained a loan by fraudulently from Punjab National Bank, Mall Road branch, Delhi in which the case was registered. The investigating officer told him that the signatures of his father Satbir were attached to these debentures.
His father Satbir told that although the signature on the loan papers of M/s Shyam Trading Company is his own he does not know Pradeep Sharma. It is further told that these have been signed by the acquitted accused Shravan Kumar at their behest of them and Ravi Bharti (Jodi) told them that Pradeep Sharma is their relative.
On this, the complainant and his father met both, but they did not give any details about Pradeep Sharma but said that since those papers are signed by Satbir, therefore, now they will have to face the consequences and the pair will not reveal anything further.
Her father consumed the poisonous substance after being tortured by the acquitted accused Shravan Kumar, Ravi Bharti, and Pradeep Sharma.
During the investigation, the police also found a suicide note in which Satbir mentioned the names of Ravi Bharti and acquitted the accused as the person responsible for his death. It was clearly written in the suicide note that both of them have trapped Satbir in the net and hence he has consumed a poisonous substance. Satbir also put his signature at the bottom of the suicide note.
The issue of consideration before the bench was: