- (1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Patna at Bihar dated 02.11.2007, passed in Criminal Appeal No.690 of 2005. The said appeal was disposed of along with Criminal Appeal No.606/2005, as well as Death Reference No.8 of 2005.
(2.) To trace the brief facts, the deceased Chhotu Kumar Das @ Abhinav Das (hereinafter referred to as 'Chhotu') son of the informant Gopal Prasad Das (PW-6), left his house on 21.04.2002 at about 8.15 p.m., for visiting a local Mela, which was held every year in the village on the eve of Ram Navami. Thereafter, he could not be traced inspite of a search by his parents and, therefore, a written report was submitted by PW-6 at the police station on 22.04.2002 at 10.30 a.m. briefly narrating the circumstances in which the deceased could not be traced. No suspicion was raised against any person for the disappearance of the deceased.
(3.) Based on the written report, the police registered the FIR in P.S. Case No.39/2002 and proceeded with the investigation. The investigation was carried out by PW-9, the Sub-Inspector of Police. In the course of the investigation, he came across some suspicious materials against the appellant by some of the witnesses. PW-9, therefore, interrogated the appellant on 22.04.2002, whereafter he was arrested. The appellant made a confessional statement before the police on 23.04.2002 and based on the admissible portion of the said confessional statement, the dead body of the deceased was recovered from a river known as Maldiha Dhar. The co-accused Arun Mandal @ Arun Kumar Mandal was also arrested, while another accused Sudhir Kumar Mandal could not be apprehended on that day. The inquest of the body was prepared on 24.4.2002 at 5.00 p.m. and the postmortem was conducted by PW-10. It was based on the above investigation, the prosecution proceeded against the appellant along with the other accused, namely, Girendra Gupta, Arun Mandal and Sudhir Mandal for offences under Sections 364(A), 302, 201 and 120-B IPC. ;