RADHARAMAN AND ORS. Vs. STATE OF U.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PRESENT Sri Sunil Kumar, learned counsel for the appellants, and the learned A.G. A. for the State.

(2.) RADHARAMAN , Narendra and Suraj, accused, have filed the present appeal against their conviction under Sections 399/402, I.P.C. and Section 25 of the Arms Act and sentence to undergo R.I. for five years each under Section 399,I.P.C. , R.I. for three years each under Section 402, I.P.C. and R.I. for one year each to Radharaman and Narendra, accused under Section 25 of the Arms Act, passed by the I Addl. Sessions Judge, Mathura vide judgment dated 6-9-1979. During pendency of this appeal, Narendra, appellant No. 2, died on 8-11-1996 and hence his appeal stands abated under the provisions of Section 394 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(3.) SRI Harveer Singh was posted as Sta­tion Officer, P.S. Barsana, District Mathura, in the year 1976. At about 8.30 p.m. on 20-1-1976 he received a secret information that a gang of dacoits headed by Kishanveer would assemble in the Dharamshala of Janki Prasad in the Jungle of village Janau, at about 11.30 p.m., and would commit dacoity at the house of Roshan Singh Pradhan of village Janau at mid-night. Believing the aforesaid secret information reliable, Har­veer Singh formed a raiding party consisting of several police officials and two inde­pendent witnesses; namely, Babu Lal and Sughar Singh, from village Barsana and started for the place of occurrence. An entry (Ext. Ka-1) was also made in the G.D. of the Police Station. The police party along with the aforesaid independent witnesses reached near Hathia-Ka-Pul. From there Harveer Singh sent two constables to collect few more witnesses from the public from village Hathia, but they came back as none was available. Thereafter, they proceeded further and reached near the culvert in the area of village Janau. Harveer Singh deputed two constables for the protection of Roshan Singh Pradhan and two other constables to procure independent wit­nesses from village Janau. As many as four witnesses from the public were brought by the aforesaid two constables and they were Karan Singh, Kuddi, Hari Ram and Ramjit. Personal search of the members of the party was taken amongst themselves, but nothing objectionable was recovered from the pos­session of any one of them. Harveer Singh separated the entire force in two parties: one was to be headed by him and the other by Sub-Inspector, Ram Singh Negi. The pass word 'Gulab' was decided amongst themselves. He gave necessary instructions to the entire force. Both the police parties, so formed, took their positions around the Dharamshala of Janki Prasad at about 11.30 p.m. After about five minutes of their taking positions, a jeep came from the side of vil­lage Palson and stopped near the Dharam­shala. As many as eight dacoits got down from the jeep, went inside the Dharamshala, sat in the Verandah, and started smoking Bidis. One of the culprits said that BHAI WOH TO NAHIMILA The other said that they should wait for sometime more. There­after, the culprits remained sitting for 5/7 minutes more and went on smoking bidis, when one of them said that the time was ripe; that all the village folks must have gone to sleep; that the Pradhan was a rich man, who was not keeping even a gun, whereas they were armed with sufficient weapons and that they should proceed and commit the dacoity. On hearing the aforesaid talks of the dacoits, Harveer Singh became satis­fied that the culprits assembled there were dacoits and their purpose was to commit dacoity at the house or Roshan Singh Prad­han. Soon the culprits got up and were ready to proceed when Harveer Singh challenged them saying that they had been surrounded by the police and they should not try to run away, otherwise they would be killed, and further that they should hand over their weapons to the police. As directed by him, S.I., Ram Singh Negi fired three very light pistol shots causing sufficient light in the entire area. The members of both the police parties also lit their torches and rushed towards the dacoits, who, by that time, had started running towards the jeep. However, the police parties apprehended as many as five dacoits on the spot, while three others managed to escape. On being questioned, the dacoits arrested on the spot, disclosed their names as Chokhey, Narendra, Gyan Singh, Radharaman, and Suraj. Their per­sons were searched. From the personal search of Radharaman, accused, a countrymade pistol (Ext. 1) and four live cartridges (Exts. 2 to 5) were recovered. There made into a sealed parcel and taken into possession, vide memo (Ext. Ka-3). From the possession of Narendra, accused, a country-made pistol (Ext. 6) and four live cartridges (Exts. 7 to 10) were recovered. These were made into sealed parcel and taken into possession, vide memo (Ext. Ka-2). From the possession of Suraj, accused, a knife (Ext. 11) and a torch (Ext. 12) were recovered. These were taken into posses­sion, vide memo (Ext. Ka-5). Recoveries were made from Chokhey and Gyan Singh as well, but we are not concerned with the same in the present appeal. The jeep was also taken into possession, vide Memo (Ext. Ka-6). Three empty very light pistol cartridges were also taken into possession, vide memo (Ext. Ka-4). The recovered ar­ticles and the dacoits arrested on the spot were all brought to the Police Station, Bar-sana where Harveer Singh got the F.I.R. recorded by Constable Than Singh, which is Ext. Ka-7. A case was also registered in the G.D., vide entry Ext. Ka-8.