DWARIKA YADAV AND ORS Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The aforesaid five Appellants have preferred this appeal against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 25th January, 1988 passed by 10th Additional Sessions Judge, Bhojpur, Arrah in Sessions Trial No. 6 of 1983 whereby Rajdeo Yadav (not Appellant in this appeal) has been found guilty under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and these Appellants have been found guilty under Section 302/149 of the Indian Penal Code and have been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life.

(2.) The brief facts leading to this appeal has resulted from the fardbeyan (Ext.1) which led to registration of Charpokhari P.S. Case No. 51 of 1982 dated 18.7.1982. The fardbeyan was recorded by J.N. Mishra, S.I. of Charpokhari police station at village Madarihan in which informant Ram Pravesh Mahto (P.W.1) stated on 18.7.1982 at 5.00 A.M. that in the preceding night at about 7.30 P.M. he along with his uncle Sukeshwar Mahto (deceased) was returning to his village and when they were crossing the bridge which is about one mile east from village Madrihan and two miles west from Charpokhari, suddenly Rajdeo Yadav (not Appellant), Mundrika Yadav, Dwarika Yadav, Ram Prasad Yadav, Rahim Mian and Raghuni Yadav came out from beneath the bridge and caught Sukeshwar Mahto, informant's uncle, and he was gagged. Due to fear the informant hid himself in Hehar forest and from there he saw that all the accused persons pounced upon his uncle Sukeshwar Mahto and all of them beheaded him. After committing murder, all the accused persons escaped. After seeing occurrence, when the informant proceeded for village Madrihan, his villager Sidhi Sao met him in the way and the informant narrated him about the occurrence. Both the informant and Sidhi Sao instead of going to their village Lillari stayed in village Madrihan and after midnight they went to their village and there they told about the murder of Sukeshwar Mahto to his brother Balkeshwar Mahto (P.W.2) and others. When the informant and others proceeded for Police Station, in village Madrihan, the Inspector of Police (P.W.6) met and he recorded the fardbeyan of the informant. The motive of the occurrence was enmity between the informant and accused persons and the dispute was under litigation before the court. The informant's uncle was taking care of the interest of the informant, so he was being not tolerated. Fardbeyan resulted in formal F.I.R. (Ext.2). The police arrived at the place of occurrence and seized blood stained soil, two pairs of plastic shoes, one pair black shoe and one cloth bag containing papers relating to litigation. The seizure was made on 18.7.1983. The witnesses of the seizure are Ramagyan Singh (P.W.3) and Brij Bihari Singh (P.W.4). The inquest of the dead body was prepared on the same day at 6.00 A.M. and witnesses P. Ws. 3 and 4 were also the witness of the inquest report. The dead body was sent for post mortem. The case was investigated into and after completion of investigation, chargesheet was submitted. The case was committed to the court of sessions where charges were framed and explained to the accused persons. The accused persons denied their complicity. So, trial proceeded.

(3.) The defence of the accused persons was of false implication because of enmity and that they were not involved in the offence.