CHINTAMANI DAS Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE five appellants along with three others who have been acquitted were placed on trial before the Sessions Judge, Balasore on charges under Sections 302/149 and 120-B, I. P. C. on the allegation that they conspired to murder one ramchandra Choudhury and that in pursuance of the said conspiracy they on the 24th November, 1965 formed an unlawful assembly with the common object of committing the aforesaid murder and did in furtherance of the common object commit murder. Eight other persons were also charged for conspiracy but they were also acquitted. Of the 16 accused thus placed on trial, the five appellants alone were found guilty on both the charges and convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life under Section 302/149, I. P. C. No further sentence was imposed on them for their conviction under Section 120-B, I. P. C.

(2.) THE deceased Ramchandra Choudhury was practising as an Advocate at Nilgiri but was residing in his ancestral house in mouza Narayanpur which is at a distance of about 12 miles from Nilgiri. He used to come daily on his bicycle from his village to attend the Court at Nilgiri and return home in the evening. The appellants are all inter-related, and there is evidence to show that their relationship with the deceased was far from cordial. Many incidents have been proved to show that misunderstandings had existed between the deceased and some or all of the accused persons. Some of the appellants cultivated lands under him and it is stated that the deceased used to harass them in many waya The last of such disputes was a proceeding under Section 145, Criminal P. C. initiated by the Police at the instance of the deceased on 21-11-1965 against the appellant No. 5 nityananda Bagh. It is against this background that the occurrence in this case took place.

(3.) THE prosecution case !s that on 24-11-65, the deceased left his house at about 10 A. M. on a cycle (M. O. XII) for Nilgiri. The road from his village to Nilgiri passes through a jungle called Bhalukasuni jungle. When the deceased ramchandra reached that point of the road, appellant No. 1 Chintamani, Goutam (A/2) and Nityananda (A/5) suddenly appeared on the road. Nityananda assaulted the deceased on his head with a bamboo lathi and Goutam pushed his cycle to one side of the road as a result of which the deceased fell down on the ground. Thereafter Bhikari Bhuyan (A/3), Sanatan Bhuyan (A/4) and three others, namely, kangali Bhuyan, Banshi-dhar Bhuyan and Narayan Bhuyan, since acquitted dragged the deceased into the said jungle and threw him in a Nala where appellant Goutam Bhuyan, Bhikari Bhuyan, Nityananda Bag and Bansidhar Bhuyan crushed the head of the deceased with boulders resulting in his instantaneous death. P. W. 13 Narendra Nayak who shortly afterwards was coming from naranpur towards Balasore found the cycle (M. O. XII), hat (M. O. XIV) and handkerchief (M. O. XIII) belonging to the deceased lying by the side of Naranpur-Bhalukasuni road. He informed about it to P. W. 7 Pratap Chandra Behera and pratap accompanied by Kailas Chandra Panda went to the spot and having found the said articles went to Nilgiri and reported about the missing of the deceased at the P. S. On the basis of this information a Station Disry entry was made by the police. P. W. 6 Surendranath Behera, who is the brother-in-law of the deceased on coming to know that the cycle, hat etc. , of the deceased were found lying on the road went to the spot and discovered the dead body inside the Nala, and lodged F. I. R. (Ext. 2) at the Police Station at about noon that day. The police proceeded to the spot, held the inquest, sent the dead body for post-mortem examination and seized the cycle, hat and the handkerchief and also three pairs of slippers (M. Os. III, IV and V) which were lying on the road at the spot. In the course of investigation, the houses of some of the accused persons were searched and certain articles which were found to be blood stained were seized. Appellant No. 1 chintamani Das was arrested on 5-12-1965 and while in custody he made a statement to the Police in consequence of which a black shirt (M. O. XVII) and a knife (M. O. XXII) were recovered from his house. On 7-12-65, his confessional statement was recorded by the S. D. M. , Nilgiri. P. W. 12, the Medical Officer in charge of Nilgiri hospital held the post-mortem examination on the dead body of Ramchandra Chowdhury at 9. 30 A. M. on 25-11-65 and found as many as 12 external injuries on his person, of which injuries nos. 6 to 12 mentioned below were in the region of the head.