NAWAL KISHORE RAI Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by eleven men who were prosecuted in connexion with the murder of one Rama Singh. Nine of them have been convicted as principals and have been sentenced to undergo transportation for life; the remaining two have been convicted as accessories after the fact and have been sentenced to undergo rigorous, imprisonment for seven years each. Rama Singh was a constable and was in charge of an outpost at Puraini, a village in North Bhagalpur seven miles from the Kishanganj police station. On the night of 21 March 1936, there was a burglary in the house of one Ramji Gossain of Puraini. Rama Singh discovered that one Meghraj Koeri, a registered member of a criminal tribe, had been absent from his house that night, and he therefore sent for him and interrogated him. Meghraj Koeri appears to have said something to Rama Singh which led him to suspect that four other men, among them the two appellants, Singheshwar Gossain and Deo Gossain, had been concerned in the burglary. He, therefore, sent for these men and attempted to extort from them a confession. In this he was unsuccessful, and eventually, he dismissed them and sent Meghraj Koeri alone to the police station in charge of a chaukidar. It is said that Singheshwar Gossain and Deo Gossain went and complained to the appellant, Nawalkishore Rai. The latter is a petty zamindar and a Brahmin, and, therefore, a man of some standing, or at least influence, in the village. Now, some two years or so previously the house of Nawalkishore Rai had been raided and he had been taken into custody on suspicion of having been concerned in some burglary or dacoity. He was detained for some weeks and, when eventually he was released, he lodged a complaint against the Sub-Inspector and a number of constables and chaukidars. Among the constables was Rama Singh. There can be no doubt but that Nawalkishore Rai was assaulted or maltreated when he was arrested. It is said that he was struck on the back with the butt end of a gun, and that it was Rama Singh who struck him. The case for the prosecution is that Nawalkishore Rai still cherished resentment against Rama Singh for what he had then done to him and that he seized the opportunity to suggest to Sanichar Gossain, Deo Gossain and other bad characters like them that Rama Singh should be murdered.

(2.) There was, it is said, a gathering at the Durga asthan at which Nawalkishore Rai broached the matter, and, subsequently at about sunset or shortly afterwards, the men or most of the men who had met at the Durga asthan, assembled again at Nawalkishore Rai's house. Among these men was the appellant, Sanichar Musahar, who happened to be a servant of the constable being employed by him to cut grass for his pony. This man it is said was persuaded to go to the out-post and tell Rama Singh that a number of men were engaged in gambling in a banswari belonging to one Adhik Marar. The constable, it is said, was induced by Sanichar Musahar to go to the banswari in the hope of surprising the gamblers and that, when he got there, he was set upon and most brutally done to death.

(3.) It is said that Nawalkishore Rai struck him with a pharsa on one of his legs and that the other men with him then combined and assaulted him with lathis. Finally, two bamboos were placed, one above the other below his neck, and pressure was applied to them until it was thought he was dead. Then in order to make certain that he was dead, Nawalkishore Rai cut the veins in his arms. Steps had already been taken to dig a grave in the adda of one Naubatlal Jha, some 700 or 800 yards away from the banswari. The dead body was carried there and deposited in the grave. Three days later, a cousin of Rama Singh lodged a first information stating that he suspected that Rama Singh had been murdered and later, certain persons, among them the appellant, Nawalkishore Rai, were taken into custody. They were, however, discharged as no satisfactory evidence was forthcoming either that Rama Singh had been murdered or that Nawalkishore Rai or anyone else had been concerned in the murder. It was not until four years later, on 24 September 1940, that any clue was obtained. On that day one Phagu Koeri went to the Sub-Inspector at Puraini and said that he wished to make a statement. The Sub-Inspector was about to proceed to Madhipura and took Phagu Koeri there with him. Next day the Sub-Inspector and the Inspector of Police both subjected Phagu Koeri to a lengthy interrogation and, eventually, obtained from him a statement. Phagu Koeri was produced before the Subdivisional Magistrate, but did not at once make a confession. The Sub-Inspector, however, went to Puraini on 29 September 1940 and acting on the information which had been given him by Phagu Koeri, succeeded in discovering the remains of Rama Singh. On 4 October 1940, one Dorik Jolaha made a statement to Magistrate, in which he said that he had seen Rama Singh killed and had also seen his body buried under the adda of Naubatlal Jha where it was eventually found. On 6 November 1940, Phagu Koeri submitted a petition to the Subdivisional Magistrate, asking that he should be permitted to make a statement. The Subdivisional Magistrate had him produced and he then made a lengthy and detailed confession. On 15th January 1941, another man Mahabir Gorhi, was taken into custody on suspicion of having been concerned in the murder. Three days later he too made a confession. Pardons were tendered to Phagu Koeri and Mahabir Gorhi, and both they and Dorik Jolaha were called to give evidence by the prosecution. In the Court of the committing Magistrate Mahabir Gorhi repeated the story which he had told in his confession, but in the Court of Session he repudiated it and said that it was an invention which had been put into his mouth by the Sub-Inspector.