NARMADESHWAR PRADHAN Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Till that black morning of 26th September, 1985 Sudama Pradhan was a happy man. He was the head of a joint family consisting of himself and his three sons. They were living together in a double storeyed joint family house in village Parasaganda, police station Sikraul in the district of Bhojpur. On that fateful morning at about 8' O clock his eldest son Narmdeshwar Pradhan (appellant) shot dead his youngest brother Suresh Pradhan on the first floor of the house. The appellant was put on trial on a charge u/S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code. He was found guilty and convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge by his judgment and order dated 31st March 1992. Hence the appeal to set aside the conviction and sentence.

(2.) The morning tragedy struck his family. The informant Sudama Pradhan (P.W.1) was sitting in the house of his Gotia Nand Kumar Pradhan (P.W.3) situated only at a short distance from his house. It was about 7.30 -- 8 a.m. His grandsonRam Darash Pradhan (P.W.5) along with his younger sister Sunita came there and informed him that there was an altercation taking place over sharing of sugar in between Babuji (appellant) and Papaji (deceased). The informant rushed to his house. Soonafter he reached his Darwaza he heard report of gun fire. He went upstairs and saw his youngest son (deceased) lying unconscious in a pool of blood near the northern window of the east facing room. He also saw his eldest son (appellant) holding his licensed rifle inside the east facing room. He then bolted the door of the said room from inside. The informant also saw his second son Jagtanand Pradhan (P.W.7) with bleeding injury on his chest. He learnt from the members of the family that an altercation had taken place in between sharing of sugar which had ultimately culminated in the shooting incident. The informant removed his youngest son to Sub-Divisional Hospital, Buxar, on a Jeep where he succumbed to his injuries at 11.45 a.m. on the very date of occurrence i.e. 26-9-85.

(3.) The Fardbeyan (Ext.3) of P.W.1 was recorded in the hospital at about 1.30 p.m. on that very day by Sub-Inspector of Police Mr. Rameshwar Ram. Subsequently on its basis formal F.I.R. (Ext. 4) registering a case u/S. 302, I.P.C. and Section 27 of the Arms Act was drawn up. An autopsy was held on the body of the deceased by Dr. Srikrishna Chandra Singh (P.W. 6) at Buxar Sub-Divisional Hospital on the very date of occurrence and his postmortem report is marked Ext. 2. The case was investigated by Mr. Balmiki Prasad (P.W. 8), Sub-Inspector of Police. He received the inquest report (Ext. 5) prepared by S. I. Rameshwar Ram who had also recorded the Fardbeyan (Ext.3) and inspected the place of occurrence as pointed out to him by P.W. 7. He recorded the statement of witnesses and after completing investigation charge-sheeted the appellant u/S. 302, I.P.C. and S. 27 of the Arms Act. The appellant was, however, charged under S. 302, I.P.C. and convicted and sentenced in the manner already indicated above.