CHITRA VIJAY SINGH Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Challenge in these appeals is to the judgment dated 10-2-2004 passed by the Fourth Additional Sessions Judge (F.T.C.), Janjgir (C.C.) in Sessions Trial No. 435/2005, whereby, the appellants have been convicted and sentenced in the following manner with a direction to run the sentences concurrently :-

(2.) The facts, briefly stated, are as under:- Sangeeta Sharma (RW. 7) is the wife of Yogesh Sharma (RW. 9). Deceased Jagatram was the father of Yogesh Sharma. They were residing together in village Jogideepa. On 14- 10-2002 at about 10.45 p.m. deceased Jagatram was sleeping in his room on the ground floor of their house and Yogesh Sharma (P.W. 9) and his wife Sangeeta Sharma (P.W. 7) were sleeping in another room on the first floor. Yogesh Sharma and Sangeeta Sharma heard the groans of deceased Jagatram. When they rushed to his room, they saw that two unknown persons with covered faces were strangulating and assaulting the deceased. They also started assaulting Yogesh Sharma. Yogesh Sharma said his wife to escape from that place. His wife rushed back to the first floor and closed the doors. She made hue and cry from the terrace, on which, her neighbour Durga (P. W. 11) and his brother came there. They advised her to jump from the terrace. She jumped from the terrace and went to the house of Durga. After sometime Yogesh Sharma also came to the house of Durga in injured condition and fell down. The villagers were called. They told that Jagatram has died. The assailants while assaulting Yogesh Sharma, had also snatched his golden chain. The matter was reported to the police by Sangeeta Sharma (P.W. 7), on which, a Merg intimation (Ex. P/7) and a First information Report (Ex. P/8) were recorded. Based on these documents, regular Merg intimation and First Information Report (Ex. P/39 & P/40) were recorded in the concerned police station. Injured Yogesh Sharma (P.W. 9) was sent to Primary Health Centre, Pamgarh for his medical examination under Ex. P/15(A), where he was examined by Dr. R. D. Gupta (P.W. 15), who prepared his report Ex. P/15. He noticed one incised wound, 4 lacerated wounds and abrasions etc. on the body of Yogesh Sharma and referred him for further treatment to Dharam Hospital, Bilaspur on 15-10-2002, where he was treated by Dr. Manoj Jaiswal (P.W 25). The bed-head-ticket of the hospital is Ex. P/9. The Investigating Officer reached to the scene of occurrence, gave notice (Ex.P/1) to the Panchas and prepared inquest (Ex. P/2) on the body of the deceased. Blood stained soil, plain soil and other articles were seized from the place of occurrence under Ex. P/3. Site plan was prepared under Ex. P/4. The dead body of the deceased was sent for postmortem to Primary Health Centre, Pamgarh under Ex. P/13, where the post-mortem examination was conducted by Dr. R. D. Gupta (P.W. 15), who gave his report Ex.P/14. The Autopsy Surgeon noticed many injuries on the body of the deceased and opined that the cause of death was asphyxia, due to excessive bleeding and neurogenic shock and it was homicidal in nature. On 19-10-2002,161 statement of Yogesh, Sharma (Ex. D/3) was recorded by the police, in which, he disclosed that apart from the two assailants as mentioned in the FIR, two more assailants had entered into the house and they had also participated in commission of crime. He added that out of four assailants, two assailants with covered faces were looking like appellants Chitra Vijay Singh and Vishmbhar and the remaining two were appellants Rajesh Sharma and Dharmesh Sharma. In further investigation, the appellants were taken into custody and their memorandum statements (Ex. P/23, P/26, P/27 & P/28) were recorded on 20-10-2002 and clothes etc. bamboo-stick & tangia were seized on their instances under Ex. P/24, P/25, P/29, P/30 & P/31. The seized articles were sent for their chemical examination to Forensic Science Laboratory, Raipur under Ex. P/44, from where, a report Ex. P/45 was received. According to the FSL report, blood stains were found on all the articles except T-shirt and full-pant seized from the possession of appellant Dharmesh Sharma. The articles were also sent for serologist examination to laboratory at Calcutta but the report regarding origin and group etc. could not be produced. After completion of usual investigation, the charge-sheet was filed in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Janjgir, who in turn committed the matter to the concerned Sessions Court, from where, it was received on transfer by the Fourth Additional Sessions Judge (F.T.C.), Janjgir (C.G.) who conducted the trial and convicted and sentenced the accused/appellants as aforementioned.

(3.) The conviction of the appellants is based on the testimonies of Sangeeta Sharma (P.W. 7) and Yogesh Sharma (P.W. 9).