GANAURI PRASAD @ GANAURI SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These three criminal appeals are directed against the judgment and order of 5th Additional Sessions Judge, Gaya, Sri Krishna Chandra Prasad, dated 10th April, 1985 is Sessions trial No. 23 of 1981/209 of 1976, where the trial judge held Shree Mahto alias Shree Prasad guilty for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Sections 109, 147 and 323, IPC and the accused Ganauri Prasad alias Ganauri Singh and Mundrika Mahto guilty for the offence punishable under Sections 302 and 148, IPC, and held the accused Kapildeo Mahto guilty for the offence punishable under Sections 302 and 147, IPC and the accused Raghubar Mahto, Ambika Mahto and Sukhari Mahto guilty for the offence punishable under Sections 323 and 147, IPC.

(2.) According to the prosecution version Thakur Mahto (deceased and the father of the informant Rajdeo Mahto PW 7) and his two brothers Raghubar Mahto and Sukhari Mahto (accused appellant) partitioned their joint family properties on 27th March, 1960 and in pursuance of it the names were recorded individually in Government records and each of them possessed the allotted properties separately. In 1975 A. D. Thakur Mahto raised his Marua crop and eight days back harvested the same. Recently the accused appellants Reghubar and Sukhari started making their claim over 0.24 decimals land of khesra plot No. 2341 and 0.15 decimals land of khesra plot No. 2632.

(3.) On 22nd August, 1975 at 6 a.m. in the morning Thakur Mahto was sitting in the outer Sahan by the side of the outer door of his house in village Mohammadpur along with family members including his son Rajdeo Mahto PW 7, and the accused Shree Mahto alias Shree Prasad holding Lathi in his hand arrieved there and questioned Thakur Mahto why he and his sons harvested Marua crop on this land when it did not belong to them ; the other six accused-appellants which were armed arrived there and the accused Shree Mahto gave them the call to kill Thakur Mahto. All these seven accused-appellants formed the unlawful assembly with the common object to commit the murder of Thakur Mahto. The accused-appellant Ganauri Prasad gave Farsa blow on the head to Thakur Mahto and Thakur Mahto fell down, the accused appellant Kapildeo Mahto gave Lathi blows on the chest of Thakur Mahto and on other parts of his body ; the accused-appellant Mundrika Mahto picked up a brick and assaulted on the chest of Thakur Mahto ; Rajdeo Mahto (son of Thakur Mahto) came forward to save his father and the accused Raghubar Mahto, Ambika Mahto and Sukhari Mahto assaulted Rajdeo Mahto with Lathi on the head, left hand and on the back ; mean time Arjun Mahto PW 8 (the other son of Thakur Mahto) who arrived therefrom the nearby own residental house hearing the hulla was also assaulted by the accused Ambika by Lathi and by other accused persons with brick bats. Thakur Mahto died at the spot. The accused persons ran away from the place of occurrence. Bhagwat Singh, Shyam Nandan Singh PW 10 and Ram Swaroop Mahto PW 3 and some others saw this occurrence.