MANISH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CR.Appeal (DB) No. 404 of 2008 filed by Manish Kumar, Cr.Appeal (DB) no. 409 of 2008 filed by Chandan Kumar, Cr.Appeal (DB) No. 426 of 2008 filed by Nagendra Mishra, Cr.Appeal (DB) No. 473 of 2008 filed by Pankaj Kumar Thakur and Cr.Appeal (DB) No. 607 of 2008 filed by Nanhaki Chaudhary have been taken up together as all the five appeals are offshoot of one judgment of conviction dated 19.03.2008 and order of sentence dated 28.03.2008 whereby learned Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No. II, Muzaffarpur in Sessions Trial No. 325 of 2002 arising out of Town P.S.Case No. 356 of 2000,G.R.Case No.2635 of 2000 held the appellants guilty under Sections 364A/34, 302/34 and 201/34 of the Indian Penal Code and the appellants were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, also rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 364-A of the Indian Penal Code and rigorous imprisonment for five years under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code. Accumulative fine of Rs.10,000/- has also been imposed on each of the five convicts. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Along with appellants, two more persons namely, Ratnesh Thakur and Md.Murtuza were also put on trial but the trial court found no evidence against them and they were acquitted.

(2.) SUB-Inspector of Police, Sakra Police Station, Ram Nath Prasad (P.W.9) was on patrolling duty along with him Constable No. 949 Santosh Kumar Singh (P.W.3), constable No. 979 Dharmendra Kumar Singh (P.W.7), Constable No. 989 Md. Meraj Alam (P.W.8) and Constable No. 574 Kamendra Singh (P.W.4). On 04.12.2000 at 10.00 P.M. they reached at Pipri Chowk at National Highway No. 28 where a barrier erected for control of crimes. At about 12.15 midnight, the informant spotted one vehicle coming rashly towards town. It was indicated through the flash of torch light to stop the vehicle but the driver of the vehicle wanted to speed up the vehicle in order to escape from the clutches of police. In the meanwhile, two police personnels namely, Santosh Kumar Singh (P.W.3) and Meraj Alam (P.W.8) anyhow entered into the vehicle and they succeeded in stopping the vehicle. Thereafter, the informant and other police personnels entered into the vehicle for checking and they found some persons sitting there and a dead body of a boy was found lying beneath the seat in back portion of the vehicle having some injuries. Thereafter, the persons present in the bus started fleeing away but only one person succeeded in escaping through emergency gate of the bus. Out of six, five persons remained in the bus and they detailed themselves as Pankaj Kumar Thakur son of Ramchandra Thakur, Manish Kumar son of Parsuram Thakur, Nanhaki Chaudhary son of Maksudan Chaudhary, Nagendra Mishra son of Gaya Mishra and Chandan Kumar son of Ram Binay Thakur. All five were arrested. Pankaj Kumar Thakur disclosed that they were doing the work on behalf of Ratnesh Thakur son of Vivekanand Thakur and another one Murtuza who were lodged inside the jail. The first information report discloses that on 02.12.2000 at 5.00 P.M. Md.Chand and Md.Hira reached the house of Pankaj Kumar Thakur on a motorcycle along with the kidnapped boy of Mohalla Islampur. The boy was son of Mahendra Nath Gupta, a Proprietor of cycle shop at Muzaffarpur. They assured Pankaj Kumar Thakur to give Rs.25,000/- for keeping the said boy in his possession. Thereafter, Pankaj Kumar Thakur and other accused took the said boy to village Siho where a pole factory was situated and the said factory was abandoned for some period and the said kidnapped boy Rahul alias Hira was kept there but when the said boy started crying loudly, then the accused persons forcibly closed his mouth and put pressure on his neck resulting into his death. The dead body of the said boy was kept in a ditch of the said factory. On 03.12.2000 Ratnesh Thakur was informed about the death of the said boy who from the jail informed Pankaj Kumar Thakur to contact his Mama Sachidanand Pandey of village Bakhri who had a mini bus and he would provide bus and from that bus he might bring the dead body for its disposal to anywhere and through the said Mini bus bearing its registration No. BR 06P/1235, the dead body of the said boy was being carried for its disposal and was proceeding towards Tajpur so that the dead body of the said boy might be thrown in a lonely place but at 11.00 P.M. when the said bus reached at Pipri Chowk, it was intercepted by the police and five persons who were found sitting in the bus were arrested along with the dead body. The driver of the bus was Nagendra Mishra, whereas, Nanhki Choudhary was Khalasi. On search, one country made pistol and one mobile phone "Motorola" were found in the pocket of jacket of accused Pankaj Kumar Thakur. One diary was also recovered from possession of Pankaj Kumar Thakur in which the name of Ratnesh Thakur was scribed. Two vials of calmpose drugs were found from Manish Kumar. Thereafter, a case was registered on the basis of fardbeyan (Ext.2) of Ram Nath Prasad, Sub-Inspector of Police. Formal F.I.R. (Ext.4) was drawn. The seized articles resulted into seizure list (Exts. 1 and 3). The dead body of the boy was sent for post mortem. The post mortem was held by P.W.6 Dr.Binod Kumar Mehta. The case was investigated into and after completion of investigation, chargesheet was submitted and as the case was being triable by court of Sessions, it was committed where charges under Sections 364A/34, 302/34, 201/34 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code were framed against these appellants and two others namely, Ratnesh Thakur and Md.Murtuza. The accused persons pleaded innocence. Hence trial proceeded.

(3.) THIS Court is required to reappraise the evidences on record and to see as to whether there were materials available on the record to prove the charges against these appellants beyond the shadow of all reasonable doubts or not.