HARI MOHAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants Hari Mohan Singh and Satya Mohan, Singh have preferred this appeal against the judgment and order dated 1-12-1980 passed by Sri K. K. Srivastava the then IV Additional Sessions Judge, Fatehpur in S.T.No. 139 of 1980. The two appellants are real brothers and are the sons of the daughter of the deceased Ram Dulare. The appellant Hari Mohan Singh has been sentenced to, undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302, IPC for the murder of his maternal grandfather. He has also been sentenced to undergo 6 years R. I. under Section 307, IPC read with Section 34, IPC for attempting the murder of his cousin Indra Mohan Singh. The other appellant Satya Mohan Singh has been sentenced to undergo life imprisonment under Section 302 read with Section 34, IPC for the murder of Ram Dulare and to undergo 6 years' R. I. under Section 307, IPC for attempting the murder of Indra Mohan Singh. Both the sentences have been ordered to run concurrently.

(2.) The genesis of the prosecution case was the written FIR. Ex. Ka-1 lodged at P. S. Khakhereru district Fatehpur by Bhanu Pratap on 18-12-1979 at 8.15 p.m. The incident took place on that day at about 7 p.m. in village Rakshpalpur. The informant is the son-in-law of the deceased Ram Dulare and the father of the injured Indra Mohan Singh. The prosecution case, as per the FIR and the evidence of the prosecution, may be stated thus: At the fateful time the informant Bhanu Pratap and his sons Chandra Mohan Singh and Kailash Singh were warming themselves on the fire of Kaura in the room where the incident took place. His other son Indra Mohan Singh (injured) was reading in the light of a lamp in the said room. Ram Dulare was lying on a nearby cot. At about 7 p.m. Sukuri Devi-PW3, widow of the son of elder brother of Ram Dulare brought food in a Thali for him. He started taking his food when the appellants Hari Mohan Singh and Satya Mohan Singh, armed with pistols, came over there. They told Ram Dulare that they would put an end to the dispute regarding the land and that he would not live to be able to give the land to some other person. Saying so, the appellant Hari Mohan Singh fired a shot from his pistol on Ram Dulare who was hit thereby. Indra Mohan Singh rushed towards Hari Mohan Singh and caught hold of him when the other appellant Satya Mohan Singh fired a shot from his pistol on him to kill him. The shot hit him on his right shoulder. The informant Bhanu Pratap and his other son rushed to capture the appellants but they succeeded in running away. A hue and cry was raised. Several persons of the village also rushed to the scene of occurrence and saw the appellants running away. Ram Dulare died at the spot, whereas Indra Mohan Singh sustained gunshot injuries. The FIR also mentioned the motive on the part of the appellants for commission of the crime that Ram Dulare wanted to give share in the agricultural land to his brother's widowed daughter-in-law Sukuri Devi and it was resented to by them. On the case being registered, the investigation was entrusted to S. I. Ram Pal Rawat-PW 6.

(3.) The postmortem over the dead body of Ram Dulare was conducted by Dr. Anand Swarup, PW4 on 20-12-1979 at 1.30 p.m. As per the postmortem report the age of the deceased was about 80 years and about two days had passed since he died. The following ante-mortem injuries were found on his person : 1. Fire arm lacerated wound of entry 1-1/2" x 1" x through and through injury No. 2 through the chest cavity on the left side chest 2-1/2" from left nipple at 3 O'clock position and lacerated the wall left pleura, left lung, heart, right lung, right chest wall and liver, Blackening and tattooing present. 2. Fire arm lacerated wound of exit nine in number in an area of 4" x 4" just below the hand outer to the right nipple and each measuring 1/2" in diameter and communicating with injury No. 1, Wadding piece found and taken out. 3. Fire arm wound of entry lacerated 1/2" x 1" through and through injury No. 4 on the inner side of the right arm middle part.