SUDARSHAN AHIR ALIAS YADAV Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All the four appellants have been convicted under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code for committing the murder of Kedar Upadhya and each of them has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. Appellants Sudarshan Ahir and Jatadhari Ahir have been further convicted under Section 27 of the Arms Act and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years each. The sentences awarded to these two appellants under the aforesaid two counts have been directed to run concurrently.

(2.) The prosecution story, as told by P. W. 12, is that on 3rd June, 1980, his cousin Kedar Upadhya had gone to village Yar at about 4.30 p. m. for bringing his cow which he had entrusted to Devi Dayal (D.W. 1) for grazing. The informant (P.W. 12) and his nephew Hira Shankar Upadhya (P. W. 5), the son of the deceased, were casing in a field at about 6.30 p m. At that very time they found Kedar Upadhya returning from the side of village Yar. When Kedar Upadhya reached near the Karha which is in the north of a well of his village, these appellants came there all of a sudden from the side of Rehat and surrounded the deceased. They all started assaulting the deceased with Kata and gun as a result of which the deceased fell down. The informant ran towards Kedar Upadhya raising alarm at that time. Thereafter all the appellants are alleged to have fled away. When the informant and the son of the deceased (P. W. 5) went to the place of occurrence, they found the deceased lying dead in a pool of blood. Villagers came on hulla. Some of the witnesses also saw these appellants running away. Thereafter, the deceased was taken to his house from where he was taken to the police station.

(3.) The informant (P. W. 12) gave his statement at the police station on the basis of which a First Information Report (Exhibit 2) was drawn up and a case was registered. The investigating officer (P. W. 14) came to the place of occurrence the next morning and inspected it. At the place of occurrence the informant handed over to P. W. 14 the butt of a country-made gun, a country-made gun and some empty cartridges which he had found there. Subsequently, on being transferred, he handed over charge of this case to P. W. 16 who, after completing investigation, submitted chargesheet against these appellants.