SHEIKH ISHAQUE Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On the night intervening 14th and 15th of July 1990, the complainant was sleeping on the roof of his house and his two sons Ram Sunder Bhagat and Pankaj @ Kapil Dev Bhagat were sleeping in the shop-house along with Durga Bhagat, the elder brother of the complainant. On hearing the notice of a bomb explosion, the complainant woke up and went towards his shop-house. Chowidar Gulabi Paswan who was present there was raising alarm. Some members of the complainants family also came out and rushed towards the scene of occurrence and when they reached near the house of Banarsi Shah, they heard the exhortation of the accused party that the family members of Ram Sunder Bhagat would be finished on that day. The complainant could identify Sheikh Ilyas Ansari and Sheikh Ishaque Ansari by their voice. On reaching near the shop, the complainant saw four-five persons standing in the lane and shouting that nobody should be left alive and that all of them should be burnt to death. In the meanwhile, the complainant saw smoke coming out of the shop-house. Instantly, two bombs were exploded and some gun shots were also fired. The villagers rushed to the place of occurrence and indulged in brick batting to scare away the assailants, who then fled away. The assailants, included the four appellants herein. After the assailants ran away, the complaint entered his house which had by then engulfed in smoke. His son Jitender Kumar Bhagat PW 3 after breaking a window, entered the shop-house and found Durga Bhagat, Ram Sunder Bhagat and Pankaj Bhagat having been burnt to death. Gulabi Paswan was sent to inform the police at the police station. On learning about the occurrence, the police arrived at the scene of occurrence. On the statement of the complainant Baldev Bhagat PW 10, Ex. 2 First Information Report was recorded and further investigation was taken in hand.

(2.) Eleven accused were sent to face their trial for various offences including the offence of murders of Durga Bhagat, Ram Sunder Bhagat and Pankaj Bhagat.

(3.) The motive for the commission of the crime according to the prosecution is that the appellants had earlier committed dacoity and the son of the complainant had identified them at the trial in that case and on that account they bore a grudge against the complainant party. After being released from jail they (appellants herein) had threatened that the entire family of the complainant would be done to death for implicating them in the earlier dacoity case.