Man kills vagabond to fake own death, HC gives life term

The Delhi High Court has refused any leniency to a man who faked his death by killing a vagabond and placing his identity proofs at the spot so that the body was taken to be his and he could thus "avoid the liability of criminal cases he was undergoing".

"The law that a person cannot be convicted of his own murder is defied by Karma Agarwal," said a division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Mukta Gupta while upholding the life term awarded to Agarwal by the trial court.

"Karma Agarwal in order to avoid the liability of criminal cases he was undergoing killed a vagabond and left his driving licence, purse, and photocopies of the election I-card at the spot so that the dead body is treated to be that of his and he is thus declared dead in the eyes of law," the bench said.

It was Agarwal's father-in-law Rajpal who disclosed the truth to police after Agarwal confessed to him that he faked his death.

"His (Agarwal) wife and brother-in-law associated with him and identified the dead body to be that of Karma Agarwal. But for the beans being spilled over by his father-in-law, Karma Agarwal would have gone scot free easily as dead though living," the court stated in a recent judgment.

"In view of the conduct of Agarwal planting his documents, including the original driving licence, no complaint or FIR having been lodged thereof and his extra judicial confession made to Rajpal resulting in unearthing of the fact that he was actually not dead, it can safely be held that prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he committed the murder of an unidentified person after intoxicating him, assaulting him and thereafter burning his body, and faked the same as that of his own," the court said, dismissing his appeal.

According to the prosecution, Agarwal killed a homeless person in Bhalsawa Dairy area here in June 2010 and planted his documents for identification on the body in a bid to escape criminal cases against him.