LADDU MANDAL Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) APPELLANT Panna Lal Mandal (Criminal Appeal No. 394 of 1995) stands convicted under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as &aposthe Code&apos) and the other two apellants aforesaid (relating to Criminal Appeal no. 232 of 1995) stand convicted under section 302 readwith section 34 of the Code, all having been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) THE case of prosecution in brief and as coming out of Exhibit -2, fardbayan of Harish Chandra Mandal recorded on 11.12.1992 at about 11.30 A.M., is that when at about 7.30 A.M. when he, along with his cousin Prem Lal Mandal, was going on a cycle and had reached on the pitch road, in front of the house of Yogendra Yadav, Yogendra Yadav pulled the bicycle causing both the riders to fall. Both Yognedra Yadav and Prem Lal Mandal indulged with each other physically at which the informant hid himself. Soon thereafter Suresh Yadav, Kapil Deo Das, Chano Tatma, Ramchandra Das, Panna Lal Mandal, Laddu Mandal and Mikki Mandal emerged out of a nearby place and carried Prem Lal Mandal towards east at "Bhagwati Asthan" but this witness out of fear stayed at the road, When some people came then they went to "Bhagwati Asthan" where he found the beheaded body of his cousin, the head being carried away by the accused.

(3.) OUT of the witnesses examined by the prosecution, P.W. 1 (Jitan Das) and P.W. 2 (Moti Lal Das) had turned hostile and did not support the prosecution case. P.Ws. 4 and 5 were tendered for cross - examination who also have not said anything of any significance. P.W. 3, Jai Prakash Yadav, had come to witness stand to prove the inquest report of which he was a witness (Exhibit - 1). P.W. 6 is Ram Prabodh Mandal, uncle of the deceased, who though had supported the murder of his nephew, but also said that he did not know as to who had killed him. He also said that the deceased had quarrels with the bad characters of Damgara.ln cross -examination he said that the accused were not concerned with any of those groups of criminals, rather they were good people. Obviously, the evidence of the uncle of the deceased also has not helped the prosecution. P.W. 8 is Dr.Gyanendra Kumar Singh, who had performed autopsy upon the dead body.