H. N. Kapoor, J. - (1.) THIS appeal has been filed by Bhikham, Surendra, Ram Sewak and Jagdish against the order and judgment dated 14-7-1975 of II Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Shahjahanpur in Sessions Trial No. 87 of 1975 convicting them under Sections 302/34, 201/34 and 323/34 IPC and sentencing each of them to life imprisonment, seven years R. I. and one year's R. I. respectively on each count. All the sentences have been made to run concurrently.
(2.) THE prosecution story, as revealed in the F. I. R. and by the prosecution evidence, briefly stated is as follows. THE deceased Ram Chandra Lal was the head master in the Primary School, Shankarpur. He was the resident of village Bharai, P. S. Jaitpur district Shahjahanpur. THE four accused persons too were the residents of the same village. Surendra and Bhikham are the first cousins, while the other two accused persons are said to be their associates. THEre was old enmity between the deceased and the fathers Of Bhikham and Surendra. Criminal proceedings in a riot case were started between the two parties in 1955. That criminal case was compromised, but their relations were strained. About one and half years prior to the occurrence a dacoity was committed at the house of Ramnath in a different village. Ramnath is the resident of village Lakhanpur. Cousin sister of Ram Chander Lal-deceased was married to Ramnath. In that dacoity case Nanku brother of Bhikham and Kailash brother of Surendra were accused. That case was still pending at the time of occurrence. Ram Chander Lal used to do pairvi in that case on behalf of Ramnath. This had strained the relatio ns between the family members of Nanku and Kailash further as they thought that Ram Chander Lal was responsible for getting them implicated in that dacoity case. On 29-8-1974 Ram Chander Lal had gone to his school as usual. His son Ram Niwas (PW 1) along with Rampal (PW 4) who was sala of first cousin of Sriniwas had gone to village Jalalabad on the previous day as Sriniwas wanted to see his wife's brother who was lying seriously ill there. Both of them returned from Jalalabad, School at Sikanderpur lay in the way and so they both went to the school. It was about 11.30 P.M. At that time the school was closed and Ram Chander Lal was locking the school building and registers etc. Ram Chander Lal then also accompanied both these persons and they all proceeded towards their village Bharai. At about 12 noon when they reached the outskirts of village Shankarpur and were near the field of Ganga Prasad (DW 1) they saw that all the four accused persons armed with lathis emerged from the sugarcane field towards south. They went in front of the deceased. Bhikham and Surendra then said "Isi sale ne hamare bhaiyon ko dacoity men faswaya hai". All the accused persons then started assaulting Ram Chander Lal with lathis. Ram Chander Lal, Sriniwas and Rampal raised alarm. Sriniwas also moved forward to save his father but he was unarmed. He was also given a beating with lathis. He and Rampal then both reiterated and stood at some distance. Ram Chander Lal tried to run away towards south in the paddy field. All the four accused persons chased him and gave several lathi blows on his person till he died on the spot. They then lifted the dead body and took it in the direction of the pond which was full of water with a view to throw it there. When they had moved at a distance of about 100 yards from the place of the occurrence and were by the side of the road near that pond (Dabri) they found two persons coming on bicycles. On seeing those persons they threw the dead body there and ran away. The names of these two persons could not be given in the F. I. R. as they were seen from a long distance by Sriniwas and Rampal. During the investigation their names were known. They are Babu Ram (PW 5) and Gaya Ram (PW 6). Gaya Ram was carrying a gun. Both these persons had recognised accused persons. They were in hurry and so they did not stop there. Many persons from villages Shankarpur and Arsia also arrived there. But the accued persons had run away before these persons could go near them and recognise them. Sriniwas had also received injuries and had pain and so he himself did not go to the police station but sent Rampal to the police station to lodge the F. I. R. Rampal lodged oral report at the police station Jaitipur on the same day i.e. 29-8-1974 at 4.15 P. M. The police station was at a distance of about five miles from the place of occurrence. It was taken down by H. C. Ramnath Gaur (PW 8) who registered a case under Sections 302/201 and 323 IPO against all the four accused persons. S. O. Jagvir Singh took up the, investigation of the case. He himself could not be examined in this case. But the investigation done by him has been proved by S. I. Bhim Singh Pauriya (PW 7) who was with Jagvir Singh throughout. The Investigating Officer interrogated Rampal. He then went to the site and reached there at about 6 P. M. He found the dead body of Ram Chander Lal lying on the roadside near the Dabri. Under the instructions of the I. O., S. I. Pauriya conducted inquest on the dead body and prepared the relevant papers. The dead body duly sealed was sent to mortuary. The Investigating Officer recovered the blood-stained and ordinary earth from the spot where the dead body was lying. An umbrella was also lying near the dead body which was taken in his possession. At a distance of about 100 yards from the spot, where the dead body was found, some blood was found near the berry tree; It was the spot where the deceased was first beaten. The Investigating Officer recovered the blood stained and ordinary earth from that place as well. He also found some blood lying in the paddy field of Ram Prasad. He recovered blood stained and ordinary earth from that place as well. The Investigating Officer inspected the site and prepared the site plan Ex. Ka. 14. He then gave a letter of request to Sriniwas who had injuries on his person and sent him through constable Raj Kumar for medical examination. The Investigating Officer then interrogated some persons of Arsiya and Shankarpur. He then learnt about the name of Gaya Ram who was one of the persons on cylce. He made a search for the accused persons but they were not available.
(3.) ON 30-8-1974 he tried to contact Gaya Ram. But he was not avilable. ON 1-9-1974 he interrogated Gaya Ram. ON interrogating him he learnt the name of the other person who was on the cycle. ON 3-9-1974, he intrrogated Babu Ram. The accused persons surrendered in the court on 4-9-1974. The Investigating Officer was then transferred and the investigation was taken over by S. O. Harbux Singh (PW 11) w. e. f. 17-10-1974. ON 23-10-1974 he took an exercise-book of a boy Ram Prasad (PW 10) in his possession. It bore the signature of Ram Chander Lal with the date '29-8-1974'. He then interrogated Ram Prasad and other witnesses. After completing the investigation he submitted the chargesheet against all the accused persons. The injuries of Sriniwas were examined by Dr. U. C. Agrawal, Medical Officer, Incharge Civil Dispensary, Katra on 30-8-1974 at about 11.40 A. M. The doctor found the following injuries on his person. (Injuries quoted-Editor). In the opinion of Dr. Agarwal all the injuries were simple and caused by blunt weapon.;