STATE OF RAJASTHAN Vs. LAXMAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) State of Rajasthan filed this appeal assailing the judgment of the High Court of rajasthan (Jaipur bench) in D. B. criminal appeal 460 of 1995 in which the High Court set aside the judgment of the trial court convicting the accused, respondents herein under section 302 IPC. The respondents were charged under sections 364 and 302 ipc for kidnapping Bachhu Singh and for causing his death. The trial court found the respondents guilty of both the charges; convicted them thereunder and sentenced them to undergo 10 years rigorous imprisonment on the former count and life-imprisonment on the latter count. The High Court while maintaining the conviction and sentence of the respondents under section 364 ipc, set aside the judgment of the trial court in respect of the charge under section 302 ipc. The operative portion of the judgment reads as under:

(2.) The incident took place on 20. 8.94 at about 10. 00 p. m. when the three respondents came in trucks, caught hold of Bachhu Singh (deceased) , assaulted him with iron rod and tyre lever and took him away in the truck declaring that they would kill him. The enmity of the respondents against bachhu Singh was on account of his alleged intimacy with wife of the accused lakhan Singh. Mohan Singh, brother of bachhu Singh rushed to the police station at Sewar and lodged a report about kidnapping of his brother Bachhu Singh. When he was still at the police station a wireless message was received at the police station at about 11.15 p. m. that a dead body was lying on the road close-by. When the police officer accompanied by the informant reached the spot the latter identified the body to be that of his brother Bachhu Singh. The body had several external injuries (incised wounds) on the parietal region. There were also marks on the body indicating that the deceased had been crushed under a truck on account of which internal organs like spleen and liver etc. were crushed. The police officer sent the body for postmortem examination, held investigation in the matter, seized blood stained earth from the spot and on completion of the investigation filed charge-sheet under sections 364 and 302 ipc against the respondents.

(3.) The respondents denied their involvement in the incident and claimed to be tried.