THE STATE OF BIHAR Vs. JAIPAL RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both, Government Appeal and Criminal Revision, are directed against the judgment dated 20.1995 passed by the Sessions Judge, Dhanbad in S.T. No. 93 of 81/ 281 of 86, whereby the trial court has acquitted all the respondents from the charges under Sections 302 read with Sec. 149 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) The case of the prosecution, in brief is that, on 19.10.1980 at 11:00am, deceased-Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who was residing with his father- Kauleshwar Singh at Daltonganj, left his residence for local bus stand for purchasing a ticket for going to Patna. When he did not return by 12:30 pm, his younger brother-Umakant Singh (informant) went out in search of him on a rickshaw, as his brother-Rajiv Ranjan Singh had not been found at the bus stand, the informant turned back to his residence at Mohalla Nawatoli of Daltonganj town on the same rickshaw. When at about 12:45pm, his rickshaw reached near Kutchary more, he found two jeeps standing there, one facing north and another facing east. In between he saw accused-Jaipal Ram, Shailendra Singh, Kamal Nayan Singh and Sanjay Sahay assaulting his brother-Rajiv Ranjan Singh. At the same place, accused-Alok Kumar Verma @ Bholi was sitting at the steering of the jeep facing north. Accused-Kiran Kumar Singh along with about 4 to 5 unknown young men was also standing near the jeep. According to FIR, accused-Jai Pal Ram was armed with 'garasa' whereas accused-Sanjay Sahay with 'bhujali' and accused-Kamal Nayan Singh was with 'rod'. When the informant saw his brother being assaulted by accused-Jai Pal Ram, Shailendra Singh, Kamal Nayan Singh and Sanjay Sahay, he raised alarm for rescue of his brother but when the accused persons rushed towards him for assaulting, he fled away. At the same time, Sudhir Kumar Singh, Ashok Kumar Singh, Ramendra Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Sinha arrived there and the accused persons fled away from there. Accused-Kamal Nayan Singh drove away jeep facing east in the same direction and accused-Alok Kumar Verma @ Bholi drove away the other jeep towards kutchary. When the informant reached home, he narrated about the incident to his father-P.W.13 (Kaleshwar Singh), who was an officer of the Forest Department, and both of them rushed to the place of occurrence on the official jeep. At the place of occurrence, they were told that Sudhir Kumar Singh and others had taken Rajiv Ranjan Singh to Sadar Hospital and immediately they went to the hospital and there they found that Rajiv Ranjan Singh (deceased) was bleeding from his head and the brain matter was coming out from the rear side. The deceased was admitted in the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries at about 3:00pm on the same day. In the meantime, on getting information, the Sub-Inspector of Daltonganj Police Station reached at the hospital and recorded the statement / fardbeyan (Ext. 1) of informant -Umakant Singh.

(3.) On the basis of the aforesaid statement of the informant, Daltonganj P.S. Case No. 21 of 1980 was registered for the offence under Sec. 147, 148 and 302/149 of the Indian Penal Code against the accused-respondents. After registering the case, the investigation was carried out and after preparing the inquest report (Ext.4) of the deceased, the dead-body was sent for postmortem examination. In the meantime, investigation was entrusted to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).