(1.) Criminal Appeals Nos. 13, 15, 16, 18 and 26 of 1993(R) were heard together as they arise out of the common judgment passed in ST. No. 53 of 1989. This common judgment will govern the aforesaid appeals.
(2.) The aforesaid appeals have been directed against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by Vlth Additional Sessions Judge, Dhanbad, in S.T. No. 53 of 1989, whereby and whereunder he convicted the appellants Md. Jalal, Binod Prasad Raut and Bablu Pal under Sections 395/ 412 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to undergo R.I. for a period of six years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000.00 (Five thousand) each or, in default thereof to undergo R.I. for one year. The appellants Murarilal Agarwal, Rajendra Sao, Mahendra Sao, Kalanand Soni and Gopal @ Gopal Krishna Jhunjhunwala were convicted under Section 412 of the Indian Penal Code and were sentenced to undergo R.I. for a period of six years each and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000.00 (Ten thousand) each or in default thereof to undergo R.I. for one year.
(3.) According to the fardbeyan (Ext. 5) of Chotan Agarwal (P.W. 6) recorded at 4.15 a.m. on 11-9-1987 at the residence of the informant, the case of the prosecution is that in the night of 10th/11th of September, 1987 the informant and his brothers were going to sleep, whereas other family members of ther informant were sleeping, Madhu Sudan Agarwal (P.W. 5) heard some whispering sound on the roof of his house, so, he came out in. the courtyard and noticing nothing, he again went to sleep. At about 2 a.m. there was a commotion and six persons entered into the bed room of the informant, out of them one was armed with revolver and 3 were armed with Bhujali. At that time, the electric tube light was burning in the room and the decoits demanded keys of the almirahs as also a sum of Rs. 3,00,000.00(Three lakh) after giving threats to the informant. Thereafter, the dacoits broke the almirahs and the boxes and took away the cash and ornaments which they kept in their pockets and bag which they were having. The dacoits entered into the room of the informant's grandmother and there also they looted away the ornaments and caused injuries to the informant and grandmother with Bhujali. It is said that about 5 to 6 dacoits were standing in the courtyard armed with Bhujali and torch and_at intervals, going outside the house and were talking with some body standing in the Galli (lane). All the members of the house were confined into one room by the dacoits. The informant and his father Jiwan Ram Agarwal raised hulla on which some persons came and in the meantime, the patrolling police party arrived there and.chased the dacoits. It has also been alleged that the dacoits had looted away the articles from the room in which informant's mother and sister were sleeping. The list of some of the articles looted away by the dacoits belonging to different family members were given in the fardbeyan. The informant also give the details about the cash looted by the dacoits and it has been stated that a sum of Rs. 2,000.00 belonging to Sarika Torhi and Rs. 3,000.00 belonging to the informant's mother were also looted away from the almirahs and they had also taken away four tola burther with lari with read mina with engraving of Sheo Kumar on those buttons. It is stated that the dacoits had disconnected the telephone connections of the house and it was asserted that they climbed up to the roof of the house with the help of bathroom pipe and when they entered into the house, they opened the main door through which other dacoits entered into the house. The informant, his grandmother, mother, sister, brothers and father had claimed to have identified the dacoits after seeing them.