RAMASHISH DAS Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Ramashish Das stands convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, under impugned judgment dated 20th July, 2000 of the 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Samastipur passed in Sessions Trial NO. 100/54 of 1997.

(2.) This is a case of circumstantial evidence added with extra-judicial confession of the appellant on which the prosecution seeks conviction of the appellant. The prosecution commenced with the fardbeyan of the informant Bihari Das who stated in his fardbeyan recorded on 16th September 1997, at about 4,00 a.m. at Kabir Math, Rasalpur that he was residing at the Math since last three months and that one day ago (15.09.1996) at about 6.00 p.m., the appellant had come to the Math and he had gone to the roof of the Math house and had talked with Mahanthjee, i.e., the deceased Ram Lakhan Das and, thereafter, he had left the Math at 8.00 p.m. Then" it is said that Mahanth Ram Lakhan Das (the deceased) came down from the roof and he took his meal and, thereafter, he went out of the Math on the road for a stroll. After the deceased had his meal, the informant took his meal and thereafter, it was at about 9.00 p.m. that he heard some hulla raised by the appellant "dekha hamare yahan kaun aael hat (Look, who has come to my house). Hearing the hullo the informant along with PW 4 Ram Narayan Pandit (not examined) and some others went to informant's house. When he (the informant) reached there, the appellant stood at the door of his house and he prohibited the informant from entering into the house. The informant asked Ram Narayan Pandit as to what the matter was and then Ram Narayan Pandit said that Mahanth Ram Lakhan Das (the deceased) had been killed. Then the informant weeping returned to his Math and thereafter, he, along with PWs 1, 4, 11 as well as Jay Narayan Rai and Ram Bhajan Thakur (not examined) and some others again went to appellant's house and he saw that in the angan of the house, deceased Ram Lakhan Das smeared with blood was lying dead on a cot with his face down and his head was crushed. About the motive of the occurrence, the informant alleged that deceased's Guru Dukha Das had settled some residential land with Darogi Das, father of the appellant in lieu of work done for the Math but since some days, the appellant and others were not doing the work of Math, hence, the deceased was pressurising the appellants, his brother Ram Das and father Darogi Das to vacate the land and that due to this the appellant, his brother and father killed the deceased.

(3.) As many as fifteen witnesses were examined by the prosecution in this case. PW 3 Bihari Das is the informant himself. PW 1 Tej Narayan Singh PW 2 Hare Kishan Mahto @ Bathu and PW 4 Nand Kishore Singh are the witnesses on the point of having come to the angan and seen the dead body and they also say about the extra-judicial confession of the appellant. PW 5 is the Investigating Officer. PW 7 Dr. Ram Pravesh Rai is the Doctor who held the autopsy on the dead body of the deceased. PW 6 Lalbabu Singh is a constable who produced blood soaked soil and some other articles seized from the P.O. PW 8 Maheshwar Singh was examined as a witness, but he stated that he knew nothing about the occurrence and that he had no talk with the informant. PW 9 Jay Kishun Pandit, PW 12 Shyam Das, PW 13 Pano Devi, PW 14 Dineshwar Singh and PW 15 Shambhu Narayan Singh are witnesses who were declared hostile by the prosecution. PWs 14 and 15 stated in their examination-in-chief that when they had gone to the angan of the appellant, the appellant had disclosed that the deceased had tried to commit rape on the wife of his brother Ram Das and, hence, he had killed him. PW 10 Uday Prasad Singh simply deposed that he had gone to appellant's angan and had seen the dead body of the deceased. PW 11 Baleshwar Singh said that he had informed the Superintendent of Police on phone about the occurrence. For proper appreciation of the facts, it is relevant to discuss the evidence of the Doctor first.