SIDHARTH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All the three appellants were found guilty by the Sessions Court for various offences. Appellant Arnit Das was found guilty of the offence under Section 27 of the Arms Act as also for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 120B IPC and sentenced to death. Appellant Sidharth was convicted for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 and Section 120B IPC and appellant Rohan Prakash was convicted for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 120B IPC. The two appellants who were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life, filed separate appeals before the High Court of Patna and their conviction on all counts was confirmed. In the appeal preferred by Arnit Das, his conviction was confirmed but the sentence of death imposed on him was commuted to life imprisonment.

(2.) All these appellants were tried by the Sessions Court alleging that they entered into a conspiracy on 4-9-1998 to do away with one Abhishek. Deceased Abhishek, along with appellant Rohan Prakash, and two others, namely, Shweta and Anvesh, used to attend tuition classes at the residence of Prof. J.C. Banerjee from 5.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. and again from 7.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. Another student by name Pallavi, used to get tuition from Prof. J.C. Banerjee from 6.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. Appellant Sidharth told appellant Arnit Das that appellant Rohan Prakash was in love with Pallavi but she was not responding and instead she had expressed her love towards deceased Abhishek and, therefore, he is to be killed. According to the prosecution, appellant Sidharth told appellant Arnit Das that all arrangements had been made to kill Abhishek and if appellant Arnit Das kills him, he would be introduced to veteran criminals, including one Suraj Bhan. Appellant Sidharth gave the description of deceased Abhishek to appellant Arnit Das and on 4-9-1998, he promised to provide a firearm to appellant Arnit Das. On 5-9-1998 at about 5.00 p.m., appellant Arnit Das came to the room of appellant Sidharth where the latter provided him with a double barrel country-made pistol, and loaded two cartridges in the pistol in his presence. Two extra cartridges were also given. Appellant Arnit Das was directed to go to the house of Prof. J. C. Banerjee and request the deceased, Abhishek to come out of the tuition class. He was told that appellant Rohan Prakash would help to identify Abhishek. As part of the conspiracy thus hatched by these three appellants, at about 7.15 p.m. on 5-9-1998, appellant Arnit Das went to the house of Prof. J.C. Banerjee. His wife Rekha Banerjee was in an adjoining room and appellant Arnit Das told her that he wanted to meet Abhishek. Abhishek came out of the tuition class followed by appellant Rohan Prakash. The further case of the prosecution is that appellant Arnit Das took Abhisek ten to twelve steps away from the gate of the house of Prof.Banerjee, caught hold of him and fired a shot at him from a close range. Appellant Arnit Das fired one more shot, but it did not hit the deceased. Appellant Rohan Prakash, who had, in the meanwhile returned inside Prof. Banjerees house, wanted to go to the gate, but on hearing the shot, Mrs. Rekha Banerjee caught hold of his hand and advised him not to go out as she had heard the sound of firing of a shot. But appellant Rohan Prakash came out of the house and saw Abhishek lying on the ground with bleeding injury. He saw the assailant making good his escape on a bicycle. It is pertinent to note here that the prosecution case was that though appellant Rohan Prakash was one of the abettors in this murder, he pretended to be ignorant and after the incident, to mislead the police, he himself gave the F.I. Statement. Appellant Rohan Prakash looked at injured, Abhishek, and took him to the hospital in the car which incidentally belonged to Dr. Neel Kamal, father of Pallavi. Abhishek, was taken to Shahi Clinic where he underwent a surgery but died on the next day. Appellant Rohan Prakash stated in the FI Statement that deceased Abhishek was being threatened by some students of the college and this had caused some tension to him.

(3.) Based on the First Information Report given by appellant Rohan Prakash, a case was registered, the inquest report prepared and the Fardebeyan recorded. The police could not get any clue regarding the murder and they suspected the involvement of appellant Arnit Das. On 13-9-1998, PW 21, the Investigating Officer raided the house of appellant Arnit Das. On interrogation by the police, appellant Arnit Das made a clean breast of the entire incident to the police. He showed the wearing apparels worn by him at the time of the incident and the cycle he had used to escape from the scene of occurrence. The pants, shirt and the cycle were taken into custody. Appellant Arnit Das was arrested and he was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on the next day. PW 21, the Investigating Officer gave an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate stating that appellant Arnit Das wanted to make a confession before the Magistrate. The Chief Judicial Magistrate directed PW7 Deepak Kumar Singh, the Judicial Magistrate to record the confession of appellant Arnit Das. PW-7 recorded the statement and on the basis of the information furnished by appellant Arnit Das, the other appellants were arrested and after completion of the Investigation, the final report was filed before the court.