- (1.) J. C. Gupta, J. By the judgment dated 6-5-80 the then Addl. Sessions Judge, Nainital has convicted and sen tenced each of the appellants to life im prisonment under Section 302, IPC to 7 years RI under Section 394, IPC and two years RI under Section 4/25 (l) (b) Arms Act. All the sentences have been ordered to run concurrently.
(2.) THE prosecution story as revealed from the first information report Ex. Ka-1 and the evidence is that on 7-6-78 Rajendra Singh PW-1 alongwith Mahal Singh PW-3 and Karnail Singh was going from his village Chandeli to Khatima. At about 9. 30 a. m. when these persons were about to approach towards Taraghat on the forest road, they heard an alarm com ing from a distance of 25-30 steps from the main road side. On hearing the alarm, the witnesses rushed towards that side and saw that three miscreants were assaulting Guru Bachan Singh with knife. THEy fur ther noticed that Guru Bachan Singh had been robbed of his valuable including wrist watch. On their challenge, miscreants ran towards the road. When the miscreants were about to reach the main road, Hajoora Singh, PW-5 Chandan Singh and Tahloo Ram PW-2 who were coming in a dunlop cart succeeded in apprehending two of the three miscreants with the help 01 first three persons whose names are men tioned above, but the third miscreants managed to escape in the forest. THE two apprehended miscreants were Babu Khan and Ramesh Kumar Rastogi the present appellants. When they were apprehended each one of them was holding a blood stained knife in his hand. On search a wrist watch and a sum of Rs. 5 were recovered from Babu Khan appellant while from Ramesh Kumar appellant a sum of Rs. 6. 40 was recovered. THE apprehended appel lants were brought to the place of occur rence by the aforesaid witnesses and there they found that Guru Bachan Singh was lying on the ground and was bleeding profusely. In the meantime several per sons collected there including the son and the wife of the deceased Guru Bachan Singh. THEy were shown knives and the wrist watch which were recovered from the appellants Lakhveer Singh PW-4 son of the deceased and the wife of the deceased identified the wrist watch as that of Guru Bachan Singh. Rajendra Singh1 PW-1 then left the miscreants with the recovered ar ticles on the spot in the care and custody of the persons collected there and himself went to the police station to lodge the report. THE FIR Ex. Ka-1 a written one, was lodged at the police station at 11. 05 a. m. and on its basis chick FIR Ex. Ka- 9 was prepared. THEreafter investigation was ensued and S. I. Vikram Singh Rana PW-9 immediately rushed to the snot and formally arrested Babu Khan and Ramesh Kumar Rastogi. He also recorded the statements of the witnesses and prepared site plan Ex. Ka-13. Investigating Officer completed the inquest and prepared Panchayatnama Ex. Ka-2 and other papers. THE Investigating Officer also took into his possession blood stained and plain earth wrist watch, knives etc. THE accused persons were brought to the police station and lodged there. After completion of the investigation charge-sheet Ex. Ka-16 was submitted against both the appellants. Dr. R. C. Maheshwari, PW-7 per formed post-mortem examination of the dead-body of Guru Bachan Singh on 7-6-78 at 6. 15 p. m. and he found the following ante-mortem injuries: (1) Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm x cavity deep on right abdomen above 1 cm away from midline. (2) Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm x cavity deep on left abdomen about 6 cm away from the umbilicus. (3) Incised wound 2 cm x 0. 2 cm x 0. 3 cm on right side of face about 2 cm below the right eye lid (lower ). (4) Incised wound 8 cm x 3 cm x cavity deep on back of left. (5) Incised wound 2. 5 cm x 1 cm x cavity deep on back of left 5 cm away from midline and 17 cm below the left shoulder. (6) Incised wound 2 cm x 1 cm x cavity deep on back of right 7 cm away from midline. (7) Incised wound 6 cm x 1. 5 cm x cavity deep on left side of abdomen 8 cm away from umblilcus. (8) Incised wound 2 cm x 1 cm x cavity deep on left chest about 4 cm away from left nipple. (9) Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm x cavity about 3 cm away from umbilicus. (10) Incised wound 1. 5 cm x 0. 5 cm x cavity deep on right side chest about 12 cm away from right nipple. (11) Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm x muscle deep on right chest laterially 8 cm away from right nipple. (12) Incised wound 3 cm x 1. 5 cm x cavity on right chest about 13 cm below the right nipple. (13) Incised wound 3 cm x 1 cm x cavity deep on right chest about 15 cm below the right nipple. (14) Incised wound 3 cm x 1. 5 cm x bone deep on right upper arm laterially in the middle. (15) Abrasion 2 cm x 1 cm x 0. 5 cm on left leg on the back side about 16 cm below the left knee joint. In the internal examination pleura was found ruptured and both the lungs were also ruptured at many places under injuries of chest. Both the chambers of heart were empty Peritoneoun, small in testines and large intestines were also found ruptured. In the opinion of the Doc tor, cause of death was shock and hemor rhage due to ante mortem injuries and post-mortem report is Ex. Ka-7.
(3.) IN order to substantiate the charges levelled against the appellants, the prosecution at the trial examined 8 wit nesses namely, PW-1 Rajendra Singh, PW-2 Tahloo Ram, PW-3 Mahal Singh, PW-4 Lakhveer Singh son of deceased Guru Bachan Singh, P W-5 Hajoora Singh, PW-6 Constable Ram Pher Gupta,. PW-7 Dr. Ramesh Chandra and PW-8 SI Vikram Singh Rana the INvestigating Officer. Out of the aforesaid witnesses constable Ram Pher was a formal witness as he had es corted the dead-body in a sealed state to mortuary. PW-1 Rajendra Singh, PW-3 Mahal Singh, P W-2 Tahloo Ram and P W-5 Hajoora Singh are witnesses of fact while PW-4 Lakhveer Singh identified the wrist watch of the deceased. The accused persons in their state ments given before the trial Court denied the prosecution allegations. They both' stated that they were arrested from their villages.;