LACHHMAN RAM Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By our Order dated february 15, 1985 we dismissed these appeals and upheld the convictions of the appellants but reduced the sentence in respect of all the appellants to seven years rigourous imprisonment. We now proceed to give our reasons for the said Order.

(2.) In criminal appeals Nos. 41 and 42 of 1974, the High Court convicted and sentenced three appellants to ten years' R. 1. and convicted and sentenced the other five accused, who were acquitted by the Sessions Judge, to eight years' R. 1. under S. 395 of the Indian Penal Code. The facts of the case have been exhaustively narrated in the judgment of the Sessions Judge and the High Court and it is not necessary for us to repeat the same which will amount to an exercise in futility.

(3.) The narration of the facts by the Courts below clearly shows that all the accused persons committed dacoity in the houses of the committed dacoity in the houses of the complainants one after the other in quick succession and looted and bolted away with various kinds of property in the nature of watches, ornaments, etc. The admitted facts further show that the accused persons were not local persons but are alleged to have come from Delhi for the purpose of committing dacoity at the places of occurrence. Another important fact which might be highlighted at this stage is that it, would appear that the nature and character of the dacoities are based on a common pattern and in all the three places where the dacoity was committed, the modus operandi seems to be the same. Even the recoveries made at the instance of the accused persons during the course of also show a clear and close link between the form and the manner of the dacoities.