- (1.)The five appellants were convicted by Shri B. Panda, Sessions Judge, Koraput, jeypore for an offence of dacoity punishable under Section 395, I. P. C. and were sentenced each to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years and to pay a fine of Rs. 50/-, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of two months.
(2.)The prosecution case is that on 13-9-55 the appellants along with two others committed dacoity inside a forest known as Kadamapadara by robbing one Kusuna rampuria (P. W. 1) , his wife (P. W. 2) and his sister (P. W. 3) of their gold and belongings by show of force. P. W. 1 Kusuna Rampuria is a resident of the village gadagunda and runs a tea~ stall and carries on a small shop of sundry consumers' goods in his village. He also takes his tea-stall and the shop for sale at the Ramgiri and Pra-dhaniguda Hats on Tuesday and Thursday. It is stated that on the date of occurrence (Tuesday) , P. W. 1 along with his wife Tulsa Bhumiani and his sister rukuna Bhumiani left for the Ramgiri Hat along with the articles and equipment of the tea-stall and the shop for sale at the Hat. After sale at the Hat, they left for their home in the evening, P. W. 1 carrying the vessels and utensils of his tea-stall while his wife (P. W. 2) was carrying some rations purchased in the Hat in a basket and his sister Rukuna (P. W. 3) was carrying some other articles, such as, onions, cocoanuts, dry fishes etc. It is the prosecution case that while they were proceeding homewards on their way in this fashion at 4 p. m. , seven persons including the five appellants appeared all armed with lathis. Two of them including the appellant San Sukra Domb came in front of p. W. 1 with lathis in hand and one of them all at once snatched away the four gold amulets (M. O. 1) from the neck of P. W. 1 and the other, appellant San sukra Domb, snatched away his Covvdi (Bhar) consisting of all the articles he was carrying. In the meantime, two other appellants Sombaru and Narayan went near the wife of P. W. 1 and appellant Sombaru snatched away the nose-rings from her person while appellant Narayan took away the basket which she was carrying on her head with all its contents. Appellant Chandra snatched away the basket from the head of the sister of P. W. 1 and another person snatched away the gold ornaments from her nose and ears. Appellant Basu Domb was standing at a little distance and keeping watch if anybody else was corning in that way. After committing the robbery, all the seven persons went away into the forest. Then P. Ws. 1, 2 and 3 proceeded ahead weeping all the way and met three persons of Tenluliguda before whom they narrated about the unfortunate incident and came with them to the spot and showed them the place of occurrence, but no trace of the robbers could be found. They also reported to the Naik (P. W. 5) of tentuliguda. It is curious that P. W. 1 did not disclose about the occurrence to anybody except his own relations, nor did he report the matter at the police station the case came to light when the Assistant Sub-Inspector of Boipariguda Police station (P. W. 8) came to the village of the appellants on 23-9-55 in connection with the investigation into another case. He searched the houses of the five appellants and also the houses of one Mudi Domb and another Dhanurjay Domb and recovered several articles from their possession including some brass tumblers on which the name and place of residence of P. W. 1 were found inscribed. On the clue furnished by these recoveries, the Assistant Sub-Inspector sent for Kusuna rampuria (P. W. 1) and on 26-9-55 about 13 days after the occurrence, First information Report was lodged and investigation commenced.
(3.)All the appellants denied the charges against them and pleaded not guilty. They denied also the recoveries and said that the articles stated to have been recovered did not belong to them.