HARI NARAYAN CHANDRA Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These four appeals are against a judgment of commissioners appointed under Sub- sections (1) and (2) Section 4, Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1925. Nine persons were convicted by this judgment; and out of these one has undergone sentence of death passed on him in connexion with the Alipore Jail murder. There remain eight persons. Five of them, namely Hari Narayan Chandra, Rajendra Lal Lahiri, Birendra Kumar Banerjee, Dhrubesh Chandra Chatterjee and Rakhal Chandra De are the appellants in appeal No. 89; Nikhil Bandhu Banerjee is the appellant in appeal No. 90; Debi Prasad Chatterjee is the appellant in appeal No. 91; and Shibaram Chatterjee is the appellant in appeal No. 99. Two of the appellants in the first of these appeals, namely Dhrubesh Chandra Chatterjee and Rakhal Chandra De, have been sentenced to transportation for life in connexion with the Alipore Jail murder; and the learned vakil who appears for them has moved us to exercise the powers vested in us by Section 397, Criminal P.C., and make the sentence passed in the case before us run concurrently with the other sentence, in the event of our finding these appellants guilty in the present case also. The learned Advocate-General has supported this request. This appeal in other respects, as far as these appellants are concerned, may be treated as sentimental.

(2.) All the appellants have been found guilty of the following offences, namely conspiracy, under Section 120B, I. P.C., to commit the offences specified in Section 4(b), Explosive Substances Act, and Section 19(f) Arms Act, and also substantive offences under both the last-mentioned sections. Hari Narayan Chandra, arid Rajendra Lal Lahiri have been sentenced to transportation for ten years under Section 4(b), Explosive Substances Act, and to rigorous imprisonment for two years under Section 19(f), Arms Act. Birendra Kumar Banerjee, Nikhil Bandhu Banerjee, Dhrubesh Chandra Chatterjee and Rakhal Chandra De have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years under the former section and rigorous imprisonment for two years under the latter. Shibaram Chatterjee and Debi Prasad Chatterjee have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for three years and 18 months respectively under the above two sections. The separate sentences passed on each of the appellants are to run concurrently.

(3.) The story of the case is to the following effect: The police had been keeping watch over the house, No. 4 Sovabazar Street; and instructions had been given to shadow Ananta Hari Mitra. On the 6 November 1925, a watcher named Nalini Kanta Roy, who was standing at the junction of Sovabazar Street and Chitpore Road, saw Ananta Hari Mitra engage a taxi at about 1-45 p.m. and drive into Sovabazar Street. After a few minutes he saw the same taxi returning with Ananta Hari Mitra, Dhrubesh Chandra Chatterjee and another man inside. The taxi turned into Chitpore Road and went northwards. The watcher took down the number of the taxi.