LAXMAN SINGH & ORS. Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Laxman Singh, Lakhan Singh and Machhar @ Mahesh, the three appellants before us were prosecuted in Sessions Case no. 63/1994 under Sections 302 and 364 of the Penal Code in the court of Additional Sessions Judge No. 2 Bharatpur for committing the murder of Bachhu Singh, All of them were convicted and sentenced as under: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_40_LAWS(RAJ)10_1998_1.html</FRM> In the event of non payment of fine totalling a sum of Rs. 1,000.00 against each of the accused appellants for offences under Sections 364 and 302 Penal Code the accused appellants in default have been made liable for rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months. The sentences awarded were to run concurrently. Aggrieved by their conviction and sentence the appellants have preferred this appeal.

(2.) The prosecution case as made out at the trial is as under-

(3.) Mr. Alok Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the accused appellants Laxman Singh and Lakhan Singh, canvassed that the prosecution has failed to prove either the enmity between the accused appellants and the deceased Bachhu Singh or the motive for the commission of the alleged act attributed to the accused appellants. The learned trial court erred grossly in relying and endorsing the mere opinion of Dr. Suresh Bansal, PW 7 in concluding that the death of the deceased Bachhu Singh had been brought about by the various injuries to his head and not by the deceased Bachhu Singh being over run by a heavy vehicle. The allegations against the accused appellants are confined to having forced the deceased on to an empty truck and driven towards Agra. There is no evidence available with the prosecution to indicate the specific injuries caused by the accused appellants on the person of Bachhu Singh. The case against the accused appellants for the offence under section 302 Penal Code following the death of Bachhu Singh is based on circumstantial evidence and there is no cogent evidence of any probative worth to exclude the real possibility of the deceased Bachhu Singh having died as a result of speedy vehicle on the road. The accused appellants Laxman. and Lakhan were alleged to be armed with an iron road and tyre lever respectively with which they inflicted injuires on the person of the deceased. Iron rod and tyre lever are blunt weapons and the injuires found on the person of the deceased Bachhu Singh were incised injuries not connected with the blunt weapons. The prosecution failed to connect the weapons of offence allegedly recovered at the instance of the accused appellants under section 27 of the Evidence Act with the injuries on the person of the deceased Bachhu Singh. The FIR iodged by informant Mohan Singh appears to have been anti-timed inasmuch as the Panchanama of the body of the deceased Bachhu Singh drawn on the morning of Aug. 21, 1994 does not bear the details of the FIR. The witnesses produced by the prosecution are not sterling worth. The reliance was placed on L.N.K. Meharaj Singh Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh, (1994 Cr.L.R. (SC) page 455) .