NEELA & OTHERS Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Accused Neela, Meeta, Latta, Golu and Jhota have challenged in the present appeal the judgement of conviction and sentence passed by the trial Court under Section 395 and 397 IPC.

(2.) Pw3 Ujjagar Nath was the priest at Markanda Temple, Mullana. PW6 Arjun Singh was serving as Sewak in the said Temple. They have deposed that on 1.3.2000, they had gone to bed after taking meals. At about 2.30 a.m., five persons with muffled faces armed with lathies and iron rod entered into the temple and woke up PW3 by giving thrust of lathi. They also started beating him. Ujjagar Nath's hands were tied and his mouth was gagged with clothes. The accused snatched his golden ring, a passport size photograph and a purse which contained an amount of Rs. 2600/-. Accused took PW3 to the adjoining room. They broke up the locks with the help of an iron rod and took out unstitched clothes from the box. Ramanand and Jarnail Singh were sleeping under the bridge near the temple. They were also tied up by the accused. But Jarnail Singh successfully escaped from the spot and reached police station, Mullana and informed the police about the occurrence. On seeing the police party, accused tried to run away from the spot. Accused Neela was caught red-handed by the police. In the said process, another accused gave a danda blow on the head of PW5 Constable Chander Parkash. On receiving danda blow, PW5 fell down and all the accused ran away from the spot. Accused Neela was identified by PW3 and PW6. Accused Neela also possessed an iron rod in his hand which was recovered by the police.

(3.) Pw6 Arjun Singh who was also sleeping in the Temple at the time of occurrence completely corroborated the evidence of PW3. PW5 Chander Parkash also spoke about the police action, the arrest of accused Neela, the injury sustained by PW3 Ujjagar Nath and the recovery of iron rod from Neela.