P.H.SHAHIR Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is filed by the appellants - accused Nos. 1 to 4 praying to set aside the judgment of conviction and order on sentence dtd. 6/7/2013 passed in S.C. No. 17/2011 by the I Additional District and Sessions Judge, Kodagu, Madikeri. Appellant - accused Nos. 1 to 4 have been convicted for offence under Sec. 394 read with Sec. 34 of IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 4 years and to pay fine of Rs.1,500.00 each and accused Nos. 1 to 3 have been convicted for offence under Sec. 397 read with Sec. 34 of IPC and have been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 7 years and to pay fine of Rs.2,500.00 each.

(2.) The factual matrix of the prosecution case is, that appellant - accused Nos. 1 to 4 were in need of money to meet their day-to-day expenses, hence, they joined together, talked regarding how to get money in the easier manner and on 9/6/2010, at about 04.10 pm, accused Nos. 1 to 3 committed robbery in pursuance of information given by accused No. 4 to the other accused regarding drawing of money by P.W.2 belonging to Coffee Curing Trading Company of P.W.1 under 2 cheques in a sum of Rs.9,96,630.00 and Rs.7,00,000.00 in total Rs.16,96,736.00 from the State Bank of Mysore, Kushal Nagar Branch, and while he was going with the said money in his Hero Honda Splendor Bike bearing registration No. KA-20-H-7650, on the information given by appellant - accused No. 4, the other accused chased the said bike in the red colour Maruti Swift car bearing registration No. KL-13-Q-6442 and dashed to the said bike of P.W.2 in front of D.Ed. College on the road leading from Harangi towards Kudlur. Due to the said hit, P.W.2 fell down from his bike and at that time, accused No. 2 got down from the car and threw chilly powder on the face of P.W.2 and snatched the bag containing cash of Rs.16,96,736.00 and all the 3 accused persons went away in the said car and committed the offence. Charge sheet came to be filed against the appellants for offence under Ss. 394 and 397 of IPC. The Magistrate committed the case to the Sessions Court. The Sessions Court framed charge for offence under Ss. 394, 397 read with Sec. 34 of IPC. In order to prove the charge the prosecution has examined 29 witnesses as P.W.1 to P.W.29 and got marked 35 documents as Ex.P.1 to Ex.P.35 and material objects are marked as M.O.1 to M.O.9. Statement of the accused persons came to be recorded under Sec. 313 of Cr.P.C. The accused persons have examined 2 witnesses on their behalf as D.W.1 and D.W.2. D.W.1 is the mother of accused No. 1 and D.W.2 is the brother of accused No. 2 and they got marked Ex.D.1 to Ex.D.7. The trial Judge after hearing arguments on both sides formulated points for consideration and convicted the appellant - accused Nos. 1 to 4 for offence under Sec. 394 read with Sec. 34 of IPC and convicted accused Nos. 1 to 3 for offence under Sec. 397 read with Sec. 34 of IPC and sentenced them as noted supra. Said judgment of conviction and order on sentence is challenged in this appeal.

(3.) Heard learned counsel for appellant - accused Nos. 1 to 4 and learned HCGP for respondent - State.