SHAMBHU CHOUDHARY Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Criminal Appeal bearing No.418 of 2014 has been filed by appellant/accused No.1 Jai Kishore Choudhary and appellant/accused No.6 Ram Pravesh Choudhary. Criminal Appeal bearing No. 442 of 2014 has been filed by appellant/accused No.2 Kaushal Choudhary, appellant/accused No.4 Sudhir Choudhary, appellant/accused No.5 Sunil Choudhary and appellant/accused No.7 Upendra Choudhary. Criminal Appeal bearing No.494 of 2014 has been filed by appellant/accused No.3 Sambhu Choudhary. They all are convicted by the impugned judgment of offences punishable under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 149 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Sec. 27 of the Arms Act. For the offence punishable under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 149 of the IPC, each of them is sentence of suffer imprisonment for life apart from imposition of fine of Rs.1,000.00 (One Thousand) and default sentence of one month. Similar sentence is awarded to them for the offence punishable under Sec. 120B of the IPC. For the offence punishable under Sec. 27 of the Arms Act, they all are sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year apart from imposition of fine of Rs.1,000.00 (One Thousand) and default sentence of simple imprisonment for one month. These appellants along with acquitted accused No.8, Mukesh Choudhary had faced the subject trial during pendency of which another charge sheeted accused Balram Choudhary absconded and his trial was accordingly separated by the learned Trial Court. One more accused in the subject crime, namely, Tuntun Choudhary @ Chhotu Sukla is still facing trial for the subject crime. By these appeals, appellant/accused Nos.1 to 7 are challenging the said judgment and order dtd. 5/5/2014 and 7/5/2014 respectively, passed by the learned 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Begusarai in Sessions Trial No.461 of 2012/0005799 of 2013 by which they have been convicted and sentence as indicated above. As these appeals are arising out of the same trial and same judgment and order of conviction, these appeals are being decided by this common judgment.

(2.) Facts leading to the prosecution of the appellants who shall be referred to in their original capacity for the sake of convenience, projected from the police report are thus:

(3.) The learned Trial Court was pleased to frame the charge and the same was read over and explained to the accused persons. They pleaded not guilty and claim trial.