RAMDEO SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants, aforesaid, were tried by the Court of Second Additional Sessions Judge, Vaishali at Hajipur along with three others who, by the judgment under consideration, were acquitted of the charge framed against them whereas the appellants were convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code ('the code', inshort) and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, each.

(2.) The prosecution case as coming out of the fardbeyan (Exhibit-4) of the informant, Doman Bhagat (PW 6), is that his cow-shed was situated in his field which was adjacent to the flour mill and cow-shed belonging to appellant Ramdeo Singh. Over his cow-shed three phase electrical wiring crossed through an electrical pole situated about five to seven yards away from where his father Radhey Shyam Bhagat, the deceased, was giving fodder to the animals at which time, at about 11.30 a.m., the appellants along with other accused came and appellant Lotan Singh was asked to hook electrical wire, a method used for consuming electricity illegally. But since there was enmity between the two sides, cases going on between them, and having confabulated together, appellant Lotan Singh was a view to murder the informant's father by electrocuting him, snatched away live wire from the pole with the help of his bamboo pole and on asking of his father he threw the wire upon the body of his father resulting in his instant death which incident the informant has seen from his darwaza. The incident was also seen amongst others named in the First Information Report, by PW 1, Tapeshwar Singh and PW 2, Saryug Ram.

(3.) The defence of the appellants as well of other accused facing trial, as per suggestion thrown to the informant, was that the electrical wire had broke and fallen down, accidentally which the deceased wanted to move away with the help of lathi but somehow he came into contact with the naked wire and was electrocuted, but since there was enmity between the parties, the appellants and other family members were falsely implicated. Besides the witnesses named above Awadhesh Singh, claimed to be eye-witnesses, is PW 3, whereas PW 5 Sadhu Rai is a chaukidar who had come to the place of occurrence after the electrocution had taken its toll whereas PW 4, Kameshwar Pd. Singh, did not support the prosecution case, thus declared hostile. The doctor conducting autopsy upon the dead body (Dr. Sushil Kumar Sinha) is PW 7 and PW 8 is Ram Nihora Thakur, the Investigating Police Officer.