PAWAN KUMAR Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Since Criminal appeal No. 405 of 2002 filed by accused! appellant Pawan Kumar file ://D :\Prograrn Files\Crirnes\database\aa\aa\2003 3 Crimes 317 .htm 8/5/2006 and Criminal Appeal No. 412 of 2002 filed by Gourishankar are arising out of the same judgment and relates to the same incident and both the accused persons are real brothers therefore these appeals are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) The facts leading to filing of these criminal appeals are that both the accused! appellants are aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 5/4/2002, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge. Bilaspur in Sessions Trial No. 229 of 2000 by which the learned Additional Sessions Judge after, holding the accused/appellant Gourishankar guilty of the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code convicted and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a file of Rs. 1.000/- in default of payment of fire to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. Accused/appellant Pawan Kumar has also been held guilty of the offence punishable under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code and he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months.

(3.) The prosecution story in brief is that in the morning of 6/7/2000 at about 6.00 Kaushal Prasad Banjare (since deceased) left his house on cycle to take bath in the pond but thereafter he had not returned to his house. His father Chhotelal made search about his whereabouts at the places of relatives but he could not trace out his whereabouts. Therefore, on 7/7/2000 at 15.30 hours he made a missing report at Masturi Police Station which was registered at Sr. No. 5/2000 and the Station House Officer N.P. Mishra started the investigation. On 11/7/2000 the Station House Officer N.P. Mishra enquired into the matter in presence of the witnesses namely Awadh Bihari (PW-2) and Manmohan (PW-3) and accused Gourishankar disclosed that he along with his brother accused No; 2 Indrakumar and accused No.4 Anil Kumar had committed murder of Kaushal Prasad Banjare and thereafter after putting his dead body in a gunny bag took the body in a tractor to Lilagar river in Devgaon near Karmu Ghat and buried the same and the cycle of deceased Kaushal Prasad Banjare has been thrown in the water in a pit near Jainramnagar. In pursuance of this information accused/appellant Gourishankar got recovered the cycle of the deceased from the water of the pit. On the cycle the name of deceased Kaushal Prasad Banjare was written. Thereafter Investigating Officer N. P. Mishra took accused/ appellant Gourishankar to the Lilagar river near Karmu Ghat where accused Gourishankar informed that body of deceased Kaushal Prasad Banjare has been buried. The body could not be traced and enquiries were made from accused Pawan Kumar and on enquiry he disclosed not in the night of 06/07/2000 he along with his other brother accused No.4 Anil Kumar took out the dead body of the deceased from the place near Karmu Ghat and after digging the pit at other place the body has been buried. Thereafter the Investigating Officer N.P. Mishra reached the place where accused/ appellant Pawan Kumar took him and the dead body of the deceased was recovered. On inspection of the body it was found that the hands and the legs of the deceased was tied by a rope. There was mark of injury on the head of the deceased and there was a mark of stabbing through the Baniyan in the stomach of the deceased by a sharp edged weapon. After inspection of the body the same was sent for post mortem examination to the Primary Health Centre Masturi. On 11/7/2000 Dr. R.L. Tiwari (PW-6) conducted the post, mortem of the dead body of deceased Kaushal Prasad Banjare and he opined that on account of the excessive bleeding through the wound the deceased had died and after the completion of the investigation the challan was filed in the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Bilaspur who committed the. case to the Sessions Court of Bilaspur from where the case was transferred to the Additional Sessions Judge who after hearing the arguments framed the .charges against accused/ appellant Pawan Kumar for the offence under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code and against accused Indrakumar, Gourishankar and Anil Kumar for the offence punishable under. Section 302 of the I.P.C. All the accused persons denied the charges and asked for trial.