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Petition for Special Leave to Appeal No. 300 of 1967, decided on 7th December 1967.
(On appeal from the judgment and order of the High Court of West Pakistan, Lahore, dated the 10th October 1967, in Criminal Appeal No. 536 of 1966).
S. 301‑Murder ‑ Accused administering dhatura to four of his friends (after their return from committing robbery) with object of making away with loot-- All becoming unconscious‑One, however, regaining conscious ness but accused killing him with hatchet and burying his body-- Another dying of poisoning ‑ Petitioner remaining in village and disclosing to police place of burial of dead body and place where articles used in commission of robbery were concealed-- Killing of one man, held, made accused's intention clear‑Accused's commission of offence in his own village but making no attempt to escape thereafter, held, indicated that he did not expect any of four to survive‑Conviction, held, clearly correct‑Petition for special leave to appeal dismissed‑Constitution of Pakistan (1961), Art. 58(3).
Muhammad Salim Qazi, Advocate Supreme Court instructed by Masud Akhtar, Attorney for Petitioner.
Nemo for the State.
Date of bearing: 7th December 1967.
.‑It has been held proved against the petitioner Abdullah, by the Courts below, after proper scrutiny of the evidence, that he administered dhatura to a group o four of his friends, after they had returned from committing a robbery, with the object of making away with the loot. All became unconscious, and the further case was that finding one of them was about to regain consciousness, the petitioner killed him with a hatchet and buried his body. Later, the other three were found by villagers lying unconscious in a sugarcane field belonging to the petitioner. Two of them revived, but the third died. Those who revived were able to give an account of what had happened to them, but were unaware of the fate of the fourth man. The petitioner was found in the village when the Police arrived, and in the course of the investigation, he disclosed where the body of the fourth man was buried, and also where his hatchet and a number of article: which the four men had carried for the commission of the robbery were concealed.
The High Court acquitted the petitioner of the charge of killing the fourth man with a hatchet, on grounds which are unconvincing. The facts proved showed sufficiently that the petitioner and no other person was responsible for his death. The conviction for the death of the man who died of dhatura poisoning was maintained, and against this order, leave to appeal is sought.
Mr. Q. M. Salim, basing his argument on the acquittal for the death by hatchet blows of the fourth man, urged that the intention in administering dhatura was merely to stupefy the men to enable removal of their loot. The fact of the killing of the fourth man was in our opinion, sufficiently established, and this makes the intention clear. Moreover, the fact that the petitioner committed the offence in his own village and made no attempt to escape thereafter indicates that he did not expect any of the four men to survive. The plan clearly was that the bodies should be found and there should be no clue as to the person responsible for their deaths. If they were merely stupefied, in the expectation that they would regain consciousness, the petitioner would necessarily have taken precaution.‑ against the clear likelihood that they would either report his action to the Police, or take revenge against him directly.
The conviction is clearly correct. We dismiss this petition.
Petition dismissed.
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