HC upholds life term of man who killed vagabond to fake death

The Delhi High Court has upheld the conviction and life term awarded by the trial court to a man who tried to fake his death by killing a homeless person and planting his identification documents on the body.
A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta also observed that convict Karma Agarwal had tried to fake his death "in order to avoid the liability of criminal cases he was undergoing".
"....In view of the conduct of appellant (Karma) planting his documents including the original driving licence, no complaint or FIR having been lodged thereof and his extra judicial confession made to Rajpal (Karma's father-in-law) resulting in unearthing of the fact that Karma Agarwal was actually not dead, it can safely be held that prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Karma Agarwal committed the murder of an unidentified person after intoxicating him, assaulting him and thereafter burning his body faked the same as that of his own," the court held.

The court's verdict came while dismissing the convict's appeal against the trial court's 2012 order convicting and awarding life term to him for the offence of murder.
"Thus, the impugned judgment of conviction and order on sentence are upheld. Appeal is dismissed. Appellant will suffer the remaining sentence," the bench said.
According to the prosecution, Karma had killed an unidentified person in Bhalswa Dairy area here in June 2010 and had planted his identity documents on the body.

Thereafter, his wife and brother-in-law had identified the body as that of Karma, it had said.
A few months later, the convict had met his father-in-law and confessed to him that he had murdered a vagabond and planted his identification upon the body, which was also burned, in order to fake his death.

His father-in-law, however, informed the police and Karma was apprehended from Bhalswa Dairy area here.