RAJ NARAIN SINGH Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave Granted.

(2.) The present Criminal Appeals have been preferred against the judgment and order passed by the Allahabad High Court whereby it reversed the judgment and order of conviction passed by the trial Court under Sections 302, 307, 323, 342 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code (in short "the IPC") and Sections 27 and 30 of the Arms Act.

(3.) The facts leading to the filing of the present appeals, as per the prosecution, in brief are that on 23.05.1994, i.e., a day prior to the date of the occurrence, Sunil Singh alias Guddoo (PW-2), a resident of village Vasnari, Police Station, Kerakat, District Jaunpur came to visit the house of Raj Narain Singh (PW-1), complainant/appellant herein who is a resident of village Pravaspur, Police Station, Mariyahun, District Jaunpur for the 'Bidai' of his sister in connection with a marriage in PW-2's family. On the fateful day, i.e., 24.05.1994 at around 8.30 a.m., PW-2 went to the petrol pump known as the Dharamraj Service Station, Pali owned by the accused persons for procuring petrol for his scooter. At the petrol pump, an altercation arose between PW-2 and Prabhakar Pandey (Accused No. 3), and the same ended up in a fight between them. Shortly after PW-2 had left the house of PW-1, PW-1 alongwith one Adya Prasad also left the house for going to the examination centre where they were to evaluate the board examination answer books. On their way to the said examination centre, PW-1 and said Adya Prasad saw that PW-2 was being dragged and beaten by the accused persons. On seeing this, PW-1 and Adya Prasad tried to intervene. At this, Accused No. 3 exhorted Pushkar Pandey (Accused No. 2) to shoot the interveners, whereupon, Accused No. 2 fired a shot from his double barrel gun which compelled PW-1 and his companion to retreat to safety. The gunshot and the resulting commotion attracted the attention of Rajesh and Brijesh, both sons of PW-1, who then emerged from the village pathway on their motorcycle and reached the spot. Karunakar Pandey (Accused No. 1) and Accused No. 3 exhorted Accused No. 2 to kill both Rajesh and Brijesh. Shots fired by Accused No. 2 hit Rajesh and Brijesh, as a result of which, both fell down from their motorcycle and died on the spot. The aforesaid incident was witnessed by Ramjee Maurya (PW-3), Virendra Singh, Bhola Nath Singh and several other persons. PW-2 was taken captive by the accused persons inside the said service station showroom. Immediately thereafter, PW-1 went to the Police Station, Mariyahun and lodged a written report at about 9.10 a.m. on the same day. On the basis of the aforesaid written report, the First Information Report (in short "the FIR") was registered by the Head Constable Jeet Bahadur Singh (PW-8) and a Crime Case No. 178/1994 was registered in the presence of SSI Narendra Pratap Singh (PW-11) under Sections 323, 342, 307, 302 of the IPC. Thereafter, PW-11 proceeded to the spot of occurrence. On reaching the spot of occurrence, PW-11 noticed PW 2 being kept captive by the accused Nos. 1 and 2 inside the showroom. Thereupon, he proceeded towards the showroom and on seeing him the two accused tried to flee away from the place of occurrence. They were, however, apprehended and on searching them, PW-11 recovered a pistol and a gun from their possession. Accused No. 3 was found to be absconding from the spot of occurrence. PW-2 was then freed from the custody and sent to the police station along with Constable Sunil Kumar Singh for the purpose of medical treatment. The statement of PW-1 was recorded on the spot and that of PW-2 was recorded after he returned back after undergoing medical examination. Subsequently, with the help of PW-1 and PW-2, a site plan was prepared and four empty cartridges of 12 bore were seized by the police. Dr. M. L. Srivastava (PW- 4), who had examined PW-2 on 24.05.1994 at 1.50 p.m. in his report, mentioned about four injuries on the person of PW-2. Dr. C.K. Gupta (PW- 7) had conducted the post-mortem of the dead bodies of the deceased persons and in his two reports opined that the gunshots had injured the vital part of the body and that death had been caused due to shock and hemorrhage. On the completion of the investigation, a charge sheet was submitted. On the basis of the same, the charges were explained to the accused who pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.