SULAKHAN SINGH AND 3 ORS. Vs. THE STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are criminal appeals from an order of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Sambalpur Sundergarh, convicting the accused Appellants under Section 402 Indian Penal Code on a charge of assembling for the purpose of committing dacoity and sentencing them to rigorous imprisonment for four years each, in the circumstances hereinafter stated.

(2.) IN Criminal Appeal No. 171 of 1961 the accused Appellants are Sulakhan Singh, Makhan Singh, Kundan Singh and Chandan Singh all convicted and sentenced as aforesaid. In Criminal Appeal No. 172 of 1961 Sadhu Singh is the accused Appellant convicted and sentenced as aforesaid. There was another accused Amr Singh charged before the learned Sessions Judge and he was acquitted.

(3.) THE charges against the accused persons were under Section 120 -B Indian Penal Code for having conspired to commit dacoity, such alleged conspiracy having been at the house of Gurnam Singh at Rourkela at about noon on July 10, 1959. The accused persons were also charged under Section 402 Indian Penal Code for having assembled for the purpose of committing dacoity under a Pipal tree on the night of July 11, 1959. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges and stated that they neither conspired to commit a dacoity nor did they assemble for the purpose of committing any dacoity as alleged.