- (1.)THE appellant, Puran Gosai, has filed this appeal against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 2. 8. 2002 passed by the 4th Additional Sessions Judge, ambikapur, in Sessions Trial No. 339/2001 whereby he has been convicted u/ss 450/34, 302/34 and 120b of IPC and sentenced to undergo R. I. for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo r. I. for 3 months; imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000, in default of payment of fine to further undergo R. I. for six months; and R. I. for six months respectively, with a further direction to run the sentences concurrently.
(2.)THE case of the prosecution is that in the intervening night of 28/29th of June 2001, the deceased namely Ranthu Puri, his wife Neera Bai (co-accused) and daughter rita Das (PW10) were sleeping in their hutment in village Belgam. At about 12. 00 in the midnight, Rita Das heard some noise and she woke up. She saw that 3 persons with covered faces were sitting over the body of his father; one of those persons was pressing her father's neck while one of the assailants was on the chest and the other one has pressed his legs so that he may not move or make resistance. Her father died in the hutment. After the death of her father, in the torch light, she could see the face of one of the assailants as the artificial beard which he had put on his face, fell down. The assailants ran away from the house. Thereafter, her mother made hue and cry. The first information report, Ex. P6, was lodged by rita Das (PW10) in the concerned police station on29. 6. 2001 at about 8. 35 a. m. This first information report was registered against 3 unknown persons as the informant did not mention the names of the assailants. Later on, a merg intimation Ex. P7 was also recorded at the instance of Rita Das (PW10)which also contains the above details, but the names of the assailants were not mentioned in the merg intimation.
(3.)DURING the course of investigation, the inquest on the body of the deceased was prepared and the dead body was sent for post-mortem examination. The post-mortem was conducted by a team of 3 doctors, who opined that the cause of death was asphyxia and suffocation by throttling and it was homicidal in nature. The post-mortem report is Ex. P3. After some time, the appellant puran Das was arrested by the Police and was put to test identification parade conducted on 4. 7. 2001, in which, he was duly identified by Rita Das (PW10 ). The Police filed charge-sheet against two persons only, namely accused, appellant Puran Gosai and neera Bai (wife of the deceased ).
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