HARJIT SINGH BEDI, J - (1.) THIS judgment will dispose of Criminal Appeal Nos. 752-755 of 2005 pertaining to the acquittal of four of the accused whereas Criminal Appeal Nos. 834 of 2005, 835 of 2005 and 910-912 of 2005 have been filed by the accused who stand convicted both by the trial Court as well as by the High Court.
(2.) THE facts have been taken from the record of Criminal Appeal No. 835 of 2005. THEy are as under: On 4.4.1999 Rakesh Kumar Pandey along with his brother-in-law Surya Narain @ Vakil Shukla along with three others, Devi Shankar Dubey, Prem Shanker Dubey and the car driver Shesh Mani were returning from Aurai to Gopiganj in the latter's car No. WB 26A 7554. As the car reached near the Trimuhani on the middle of the road in Gopiganj, accused Udai Bhan Singh, Akbal Bahadur @ Atkoti Singh, Prem Singh, Dhunni Singh, Munni Singh, Daroga Singh, Rajeshwar Upadhyay, Pintoo Singh and two other persons all armed with modern weapons starting firing at the car. The firing led to the death of Surya Narain @ Vakil Shukla, Devi Shanker Dubey and Shesh Mani at the spot. Rakesh Kumar Pandey and Prem Shanker who were sitting on the rear seat rushed out of the car to save themselves and they too received some superficial injuries in that process. The assailants also picked up the licensed rifle of Prem Shanker Dubey which was lying in the car and thereafter ran away from the spot. The occurrence was also witnessed by Shiv Prasad @ Dangar Tewari, Mukand Lal, Ram Dutt Mishra and several other persons. A FIR was thereafter lodged by Rakesh Kumar Pandey at 3.45 p.m. in Police Station Gopiganj a kilometer away from the place of incident, on which S.I. Vidya Prakash Misra reached the place of occurrence and recorded the statement of Rakesh Kumar Pandey whereas SI Rashid Ahmad prepared the inquest reports of the deceased on the dictation of SI Vidya Prakash Misra. On an inspection of the site, several pieces of glass, a blood stained piece of rexine, and shoes and some fired cartridges, a rifle and a 9 mm pistol licensed to deceased Surya Narain Shukla were recovered. The bodies were also sent for the post mortem examinations. The post mortem examination on the dead body of Devi Shanker Dubey was conducted by Dr. Radhey Raman on 4.4.1999 at about 11.55 p.m. whereas Dr. Sanjay Tewari conducted the post mortem examinations on the dead bodies of Shesh Mani at 11.30 p.m and that on Surya Narain Shukla 45 minutes later i.e. at 0030 hours. All three dead bodies showed extensive fire arms injuries. Dr. A.K. Pandey also medically examined Prem Shanker Dubey at 5.25 p.m on 4.4.1999 and found two lacerated simple injuries on his person whereas the examination of Rakesh Kumar Pandey at 8.15 p.m. on 4.4.1999 by Dr. L.S. Mishra showed five simple injuries; three abrasions and two contusions. The doctors opined that these injuries could have been caused as the two were making a hurried exit from the car. On the completion of the investigation the accused were charged for offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 302 read with 149 I.P.C whereas appellant Suresh Singh @ Jajjey Singh was in addition charged under Section 379 IPC for having taking away Prem Shankar Dubey's rifle from the car whereas Tehsildar Singh and Suresh Singh were further charged under Section 411 I.P.C. The accused pleaded not guilty and sought trial. Rakesh Kumar Pandey, the first informant and the primary witness to the murders, was himself murdered during the course of the trial. The prosecution nevertheless relied on the evidence of PW1 Shiv Prasad @ Dangar Tewari who deposed to the circumstances leading to his presence at the spot and the manner of the attack and further stated that about 15/20 shots had been fired at the car by the accused from a close range as the car had stalled after having had a collision with a bus as the car driver had attempted to race away. He also stated that he knew most of the accused having dealt with them at one time or another. The prosecution also relied on the evidence of PW 4 Prem Shankar Dubey, another eye witness but he did not support the prosecution and was declared hostile having partly disowned the story given by him in his earlier statements. The other eye witness PW 5 Ram Dutt Misra, however, supported the prosecution story and justified his presence by deposing that he had gone to Vidhyachal temple for darshan in the morning and while returning there from he had taken a lift alongwith Dangar Tewari PW1 on Mukund Lal's Bullet motor-cycle to reach his home in Gopiganj. The prosecution also relied on the medical evidence (and the various reports tendered) of PW 6 Dr. A.K. Pandey and PW 7 Dr. L.S. Misra with regard to the injuries on Prem Shankar Dubey and Rakesh Kumar Pandey respectively. The prosecution also examined the police officials involved in the investigation viz., PW 10 S.I. Irshad Ali who had recorded the inquest reports on the dictation of PW 13 Vidya Prakash Misra SHO and also dispatched the dead bodies for their post mortem examinations, PW 11 Constable Prabhu Nath Yadav who deposed that the dead bodies had been handed over to Constable Manoj Rai and Devi Shanker Pandey for being taken for the post mortems, PW 13 Vidya Prakash Misra who had made the various recoveries already mentioned above and had also inspected the place of incident and the car and had found about 40 bullet marks thereon, and also several other police officials who had been involved in the peripheral investigation or had arrested some of the accused. The prosecution story was then put to the accused and they denied their involvement in the incident and pleaded false implication. The trial Court examined the matter in extenso and held that there had been no delay in the recording of the FIR and the argument that the first information report had come into existence after the inquest proceedings had been completed, was unacceptable. The Court also found that Rakesh Kumar Pandey and Prem Shanker Dubey had both been injured in their attempt to get out from the car and this evidence to, was a significant circumstance pointing to their presence. It also held that PW 1 Shiv Prasad and PW 5 Ram Dutt Misra who had supported the prosecution had cogently explained their presence at the crucial moment in as much that both had gone to Vindhyachal temple for darshan and while returning had sought a lift back to Gopiganj triple riding with Mukund Lal on his Bullet motor cycle and that the attempt on the part of the defence to get them to explain their movements minute by minute could not be accepted as this could not be a realistic approach in such callous and gruesome multiple murders. The trial Court also found that the medical evidence supported the ocular version in as much that the injuries found on the dead bodies clearly revealed that several types of weapons had been used and that too from a very close range causing extensive internal and external injuries on the persons of the deceased. It also observed that in a case of firing by several persons at others confined in a vehicle with all three deceased sitting in the front seat, it was well nigh impossible to expect an eye witness sitting on the rear seat to give the exact details as to the position of the deceased and the assailants when the firing had taken place. The court nevertheless held that the motive had not been proved. The court then went into the involvement of each of the accused and observed that nine of the accused had been named in the FIR and two others who had not been named also figured in the incident and that some of the accused had been subsequently identified by name. The court held that as there was no motive for false implication, a case against eleven of the accused under Sections 147, 148, 302 read with Section 149 IPC had been made out. The Court also held that the charge under Sections 379/411 IPC against accused Suresh Singh and the case against Tehsildar Singh who had not been named in the FIR and had been attributed only a Lalkara by the eye witnesses who were also discrepant as to the manner of his participation, he was entitled to an acquittal in toto. The trial Court finally observed that: "On the basis of the entire above discussions and conclusion the accused Udhaybhan Singh @ Doctor Singh, Pinto Singh @ Sandeep Singh, Iqbal Bahadur Singh @ Atkotic Singh, Prem Singh @ Prem Bahadur Singh, Chunni Singh @ Mata Prasad Singh, Daroga Singh @ Shri Krishan Singh, Rajeshwar Upadhaya, Suresh Kumar @ Jajje Singh, Sanjay Singh, Santosh Kumar Singh are found guilty of the offence under Sections 147/148/302/149 IPC", and ordered that: "The accused are sentenced to life sentence under Section 302/149 IPC and fine of Rs.5000-5000/- each accused and if the fine is not paid, one month sentence and under Section 147 Cr.P.C 3 months rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs.500- 500 each and in the event of not paying the fine 10 days further rigorous imprisonment and under Section 148 Cr.P.C 6 months rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs.1000-1000 each and in the event of not paying the fine 15 days further rigorous imprisonment is justifiable.
(3.) SEVERAL appeals were subsequently filed before the High Court. The High Court on a reconsideration of the matter allowed the appeals of Pinto Singh @ Sandeep Singh, Daroga Singh @ Krishan Singh, Chunni Singh @ Mata Prasad Singh and Prem Bahadur Singh holding that their names had been revealed by Dangar Tewari PW 1 for the first time in Court and it was therefore unsafe to maintain their on the basis of the statement of PW 5 Ram Dutt Misra alone. The High Court accordingly directed as under: JUDGEMENT_1108_TLPRE0_2007Html1.htm The present set of criminal appeals have been filed against the judgment of the High Court.;