NAND KUMAR SONI Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) As the aforesaid three Criminal Appeals arise out of the same judgment dated 04.03.2011 passed by Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) Dhamtari in Sessions Trial No. 77/2010 convicting the accused/appellants under Sec. 395/34 Penal Code and sentencing each of them to undergo imprisonment for life and pay fine of Rs. 500.00 plus default stipulations, they are disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) As per the case of prosecution, on 11.08.2010 FIR (Ex.P1) was lodged by Mohd. Ayub Khan (PW-1) to the effect that in the intervening night of 15/16.07.2010 when he along with other family members was sleeping in his house someone knocked at the door but as there was a rumor in the village that after threatening the villagers the Naxalites were committing dacoity, he did not open it. FIR further states that sometime thereafter few persons came to his courtyard by jumping over the roof, started knocking at the door again and asked to open the door calling him by name. Those persons are also alleged to have threatened him of being shot at in case the door was not opened and then on account of fear he opened the back door of the courtyard. FIR further goes to state that two persons then came inside the room - one carrying gun and the other carrying knife, and got opened the front door also on the point of gun. On opening the front door, 4-5 other persons - all in green uniform also got in and out of them two were carrying knife-like weapons. One of those two, kept his children aside whereas the other demanded Rs. 3 lakhs from him. When he expressed his inability to pay that much of amount and asked them to take away the household items, they did did not agree for that and remained adamant on their demand for money. They asked him to part with whatever amount was with him or else he and his entire family would be done away with. Thereupon, he took out Rs. 16,000.00 from his shop and gave it to them. According to the lodger of FIR, he could identify the said persons if happened to see them though 1-2 of them were hiding their faces. FIR states that after those persons left his house, he heard their voice emanating from the house of his neighbour Gopal Ram but on account of fear he did not come out of his house and on the next day he came to know that they took away Rs. 5000.00 from the house of Gopal Ram, Rs. 20,000.00 from the house of Sundar Lal Sinha, Rs. 10,000.00 from Masood Khan, Rs. 32,000.00 from Radhe Singh and Rs. 25,000.00 from Dwarika Prasad by putting all under the threat of life. FIR states that taking those persons as Naxalites they remained silent on account of fear and subsequently after reading the news of some persons being arrested by the police of police station Nagri, they gathered courage of lodging the report. It states that these persons including Manoj Markam had committed the dacoity by threatening them of life. Based on this FIR, offence under Sec. 395 Penal Code was registered against Manoj Markam and others. After inquiry, except accused Manoj Markam who was already arrested by the police on 10.08.2010 (in arrest memo it is mentioned as 10.09.2010), the others were arrested on 12.08.2010 on the basis of disclosure of their names by Manoj Markam. On 12.08.2010 itself on the memorandum of accused Harik Ram Ex. P-6, seizure of black colour mask, photocopy of ration card of Chainu Ram and cash of Rs. 500.00 was made from him under Ex. P-7; on the memorandum of accused Roop Lal Ex. P8, seizure of knife, voter ID card of Sahnu Ram and a cash of Rs. 500.00 was made from him under Ex. P-9; on the memorandum of accused Gangesh Kumar Ex. P-10, seizure of knife, bag (pitthu), Naxalite uniform and a cash of Rs. 500.00 was made from him under Ex. P-11; on the memorandum of accused Nand Kumar Ex. P-12, seizure of black mask and a cash of Rs. 500.00 was made from him under Ex. P-13; on the memorandum of accused Nohar Singh Ex. P-14, seizure of gun, voter ID card of Govind Singh Thakur and cash of Rs. 1000.00 was made from him under Ex. P-15. Likewise, 49 currency notes of 500 denomination totaling to Rs. 24,500.00 were seized from Hemant Kumar Sahu (PW-3) under Ex. P-16. On 09.10.2010, Test Identification Parade (TIP for short) was conducted vide Ex. P-4, P-22, P-23, P-24 and P-24 by Prakash Kumar Tandon (PW-16) the Naib Tehsildar, and it is said that all the five complainants in whose houses dacoity was committed namely Mohd. Ayub Khan (PW-1), Gopal Ram Sahu (PW-4), Radhe Lal Sinha (PW-5), Masood Khan (PW-7) and Sundar Lal Sinha (PW-8) have identified the accused persons five in number namely Harik Ram, Nand Kumar, Roop Lal, Gangesh Kumar, Nand Kumar and Nohar Singh. After investigation, challan was filed by the police under Sec. 395 Penal Code followed by framing of charge by Court below accordingly.

(3.) In order to prove its case the prosecution has examined 16 witnesses including the victims six in number, in support of its case. Statements of the accused/appellants were also recorded under Sec. 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in which they denied their guilt and pleaded innocence and false implication in the case.