SAMARJEET SINGH Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) l the aforesaid Criminal Appeals arise out of the same judgment. They have been heard together, and are being decided by this common order. The appellants were tried for the offences (i) under section 302 IPC and also (ii) under section 364A IPC read with section 11/ 13 of M.P.D.P.K. Act 1981. The trial Court acquitted all the accused in respect of the offences under Section 364A IPC and Section 11/ 13 of M.P.D.P.K. Act, 1981. It has convicted the accused appellants under Section 302/ 149 of IPC and sentenced them to life imprisonment with fine.

(2.) The prosecution story as emerging from the FIR as well as the prosecution evidence runs as follows. Initially the accused together with a known dacoit Ramesh Singh Kushwah and his gang totaling about 20-25 people according to some witnesses, abducted one Ram Sahay (PW-3) who belonged to a different village namely Bichholi. At the time of the said abduction Ram Sahai was allegedly assaulted with the back of a Kulhadi, which Ram Sahai was carrying at that time, which resulted in a bleeding injury. However no injury report has been alleged or produced to corroborate the alleged bleeding injury. Along with the said abducted Ram Sahay. the accused want towards a village called Bahadurpura. In the evening, before Bahadurpura, this gang stopped at the well of one Ganpat. From there, on 05-02-2000 at about 4 P.M. these miscreants abducted the son of Ganpat namely Ramaji and a four year old child namely Govind. Ramji was tied up, and the child was handed over to Ram Sahay. The aforesaid second abduction is alleged to have been witnessed by two ladies, namely, Munnidevi (PW-8) and Rajkumari (PW-21). Rajkumari (PW-21) was assaulted with the butt of guns. No injury report is alleged and none has been produced in evidence These ladies were then locked up by the miscreants inside a room near the well from where the second abduction took place. Thereafter the gang proceeded with these three abducted persons towards the village. One Sukkhe alias Sukhram (PW-7) who was also abducted either from the spot of second abduction or from some place on the way to the village and was also taken along with gang. Thus the total number of abductees became 4. In the meantime, the two ladies Munnidevi (PW-8) and. Rajkumari (PW-21) broke a wall of the room, came out and went to the village and gave information about the abduction. On receiving this information, one of the deceased namely Suraj along with his 306 bore rifle rushed from his house where he had come for food. He reached the spot of the incident (where the two murders took place): There he was shot dead by the gang. Simultaneously, the abductee Ramaji was also shot dead by the same gang. This happened at about 5:30 P.M. The motive of the murders is alleged to be election rivalry with the accused Kripal etc. who got the murder committed through the gang of Ramesh Kushwah dacoit. This motive although mentioned in the FIR is not supported during the evidence. It may be mentioned here that the deceased Suraj was himself earlier a member of Ramesh Singh Kushwah gang of dacoits, but fell out later.

(3.) To continue with the prosecution story, simultaneously with Suraj, upon receiving the information of abduction, Kailash (PW-12) went to a temple where a religious function was going on in which 300-400 people were assembled from that village as well as from neighbouring villages. Kailash gave information about the abduction. Some of the people who had assembled at the function were armed. Upon receiving the information from Kailash, Arjun Singh (PW-10), Munnilal (PW-15), Vikram Singh (PW-16), Shambhu Singh (PW-11), Janak Singh (PW-17), Rajesh Singh (not produced as a witness), Jagram Singh (also not produced as witness) and some others rushed towards the well of Ganpat, from where the second abduction had taken place. These people heard the sound of firings when they reached the well of Dhanole Harijan. Thereupon these people proceeded to a field called "Tendua Wala Khet" from there they claim to have witnessed the two deceased Suraj and Ramaji being surrounded by gang and being shot dead, The villagers, who were armed, fired towards the dacoits but after murdering the two deceased the dacoits. moved towards these villagers whereupon these villagers retreated towards the village. The gang thereafter went away with the firearm of Suraj. A written report, which is called Dehati Nalish, was prepared, at 07:00 pm, and on that basis an FIR was registered at 09:05 pm. The Investigating Officer namely Shiv Singh Yadav (PW-22) along with other policemen reached the spot at about 09:00 pm and after registering the FIR camped on the spot because it had become dark. The inquest report of the dead bodies was prepared the next morning i.e. 06.02-2000 and the bodies were sent for postmortem examination, which was conducted at 10:30 A.M. on 06.02.2000. The Investigating, Officer prepared a site plan, collected the blood soaked and plain soil, recovered some used firearm cartridges, and after investigation submitted a charge sheet. The two other abductees namely Ram Sahai and Govind were later recovered by the police. How, when, from where and in what circumstances they were recovered is not disclosed.