- (1.) These two appeals arise out of the same judgment dated 22-9-1980, passed by the then VII Additional Sessions Judge, Kanpur. By virtue of the said judgment, the two appellants before this Court were convicted under Section 395, IPC and sentenced to serve five years in jail.
(2.) Yet one more accused, namely, Shrikrishna was also convicted along with the appellants but it could not be ascertained as to whether he filed any appeal or not.
(3.) The factual matrix, in brief, may be recapitulated as below :- Sri Ram Prasad, son of Jia Lal, resident of Hasnapur, P. S. Akbarpur, District Kanpur (as it then was) submitted a report to the Station House Officer of P. S. Akbarpur, with the recitals therein that at about mid-night between 16/17-10-1977, 3-4 miscreants entered his house and started looting the valuable and on the resistence being offered by the females they were admonished. All the inmates of the house including the informant raised hue and cry, attracted by which came there several villagers from the vicinity but in the meantime, the miscreants managed to make their escape good with the looted booty. On account of darkness all around, the miscreants could not be chased. Besides a cash of Rs. 4000.00, ornaments worth Rs. 4200.00 were shown in the list of articles, which were taken away by the intruders. The applicant was also deprived of his three Dhotis worth Rs. 42.00. Ram Prasad suffered a punctured wound in his right leg during the course of occurrence. The Investigating Officer Sri B. D. Singh, S.I. was entrusted with the task of investigation of this case. He rounded up the accused appellants as also Shrikrishna and arranged for an identification parade on 29-1-1978. The witnesses Ram Prakash, Mauji Lal, Pattoo and Raghunath Prasad correctly identified the accused appellants Amir Ali alias Mina and Atar Singh to be as those, who amongst others, participated in the dacoity. The witnesses were interrogated and examined by the Investigating Officer, who had, after completing the other formalities of the investigation, submitted charge-sheet against the aforesaid two appellants u/S. 392, IPC. However, the Station Officer of P. S. Akbarpur being not satisfied with the investigation conducted by Sri B. D. Singh, assumed for himself, further investigation of this case and after the third accused Srikrishna was identified by the witnesses, he submitted a fresh charge-sheet under Sections 395 and 397, IPC against all the three aforesaid miscreants. On being committed to the Court of Sessions, all the three accused were charged under Section 395, IPC.;