- (1.) THIS appeal and connected Government Appeal No. 693 of 1961 arise out of Sessions Trial No. 5 of 1960 in which two persons, Nagina of village Sipaya and Sheonandan of village Iswapur in Bihar, were tried for offences under Section 120 -B and 396, I. P. C. The Additional Sessions Judge, Gorakhpur, acquitted Nagina, but convicted Sheonandan under both the provisions and sentenced him to imprisonment for life under Section 396 and to 10 years rigorous imprisonment under Section 120 -B, I. P. C. He has, therefore, come up in appeal against his conviction and sentence as aforesaid, while the State of Uttar Pradesh has filed the appeal against the acquittal of Nagina, for the aforesaid offences. These two appeals were heard together and we propose to deal with both of them in the same judgment.
(2.) A daring dacoity took place at about 8.30 P. M. on 2nd February, 1959, in a second class compartment in 216 -Down train of the North Eastern Railway between Lakshmiganj and Ramkola railway stations. Shapker Das (P. W. 3) is a cashier in the Ramkola Sugar Mills. He cashed a cheque for rupees one lac for distribution of salaries on 2nd February, 1959, at the Central Bank at Gorakhpur and received the amount in 14 bundles of currency notes as below: One bundle of Rs. 100/ - each Rs. 10,000.00 Np. Eight bundles of Rs. 10/ - each Rs. 80,000.00 ' One bundle of Rs. 57/ - each Rs. 5,000.00 ' One bundle of Rs. 2/ - each Rs. 2,000.00 ' Three bundles of Rs. 1/ - each Rs. 3,000.00 ' Rs. 1,00,000.00' He carried this cash in an old steel locked suitcase or trunk (Ex. 2) and had Lal Bahadur, an armed guard, with him for the safety of the box. Both of them held monthly tickets for Ramkola. They arrived at railway station Gorakhpur at about 5 P.M. and when the train arrived at 5.40 P.M., they occupied a second class compartment in a composite bogie FST 2314 (which bogie was composed of ,a First Class, a Second Class and probably two Third Class compartments). There were four parallel berths in the compartment which have been referred to by the Sessions Judge in his judgment as berths 1 to 4 beginning with the berth next to the door on the western side. Berths 1 and 2 faced one another and so did the berths, 3 and 4. There was open space to the south of berths 1, 2 and 3 while berth 4, which was on the extreme east, covered the whole width of the compartment from the window on the northern side to the window on the southern side. Shanker Das occupied the third seat on the fourth berth counting from the northern side and Lal Bahdur the third seat counting from the same direction on the third berth. Lal Bahadur and Shanker Das were thus sitting face to face and the steel box is said to have been placed by them under the fourth berth and secured to one of the legs of that berth with a locked chain. One Ram Nandan Srivastava who was going to Padiauna, occupied the first seat on the fourth berth and Sri Sohan Lal, Assistant Engineer in the Ramkola Sugar Mills, the second seat on that berth. The fourth seat on that berth was occupied later at a subsequent railway station by one Sri Satya Narain Gupta. The first two seats on the third berth were occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Narendra Nath Sinha. Four other persons who subsequently, according to the prosecution case, turned out to be the dacoits, occupied the first and second berths from Gorakhpur. Six other persons, who are said to be their companions and among whom were Nagina and Sheonandan took their seats in the adjoining third class compartment to the west of the second class compartment. But it is said that as the train moved on the four passengers in the second class compartment or two or more of them would get down and go and talk over to their six companions in the third class compartment at each of the railway stations, Kuraghat, Pipraich, Bodarwar, and Captainganj. At Captainganj, where the train stopped for about half an hour, all these persons are said to have gone to a tea stall, where there was a lighted petromax and to have taken tea. At Lakshmiganj, which is the next station on this side of Ramkola, the six companions of these four persons, who were sitting in the third class compartment, also came over to the second class compartment and stood up in the gallery between the two doors to the west of the first berth. After the train had gone from Lakshmiganj for about two miles, Shanker Das handed over the key to Lal Bahadur, and asked him to unlock the chain with which the box was secured. Lal Bahadur unlocked the chain and handed over the key thereafter to Shanker Das. Just then the person, who was sitting just behind Lal Bahadur, i.e., occupying the third seat (counting from north) on the second berth got up, whipped out a country made revolver and fired at Lal Bahadur at close range. He fired several other rounds with the same revolver where after three or four among the dacoits proceeded to pick up the box. Shanker Das offered some resistance but he was beaten. Even he and Satya Narain Gupta, who was sitting next to him, were injured. The box was then removed by the dacoits and thrown out of the door near a culvert. As the train slowed down near the distant signal, the ten persons got down one after the other and it is alleged that thereafter they picked up the currency notes and disappeared. The firing of the gun attracted the attention of the passengers in the third class compartment. One of them Ram Autar (P. W. 4) is said to have a torch with him which he flashed out of the window. He tried to stop the train by pulling the chain, but the chain gave way and consequently did not work. Other passengers in the compartment also peeped out of the windows and saw the dacoits dropping out from the compartment one after the other and then running away towards west.
(3.) ALTHOUGH the train stopped at the distant signal for a few minutes, no one in the neighbouring compartments took any notice of what had happened. When the train arrived at Ramkola railway station, an alarm was raised. The Guard then arrived, and the report, Ex. Ka -II, was handed over by him to the Station Master, Eamkola, who passed it on to Police Station, Rarnkola, where the First Information Report (Ex. Ka44) was prepared at 9.30 P.M. S. I. Janardan Pathak (P. W. 25) came to the railway station almost immediately. The body of the deceased, Lal Bahadur, was taken out and he prepared the inquest report in respect of the same, and Shanker Das and Satya Narain Gupta were sent for medical attention in the dispensary at Ramkola. On the inspection of the second class compartment a bag (Ex. 6) containing a lota (Ex. 1) and a lungi (Ex. 5) were found on the second berth of the compartment. The lota contained an inscription 'Santlalji Dahiyawan Chhapra'' in Hindi. Information about the incident was also sent to the Station Officer of the Government Railway Police at Gorakhpur. S. I. Ram Murti Prasad, who was Station Officer there, reached Ramkola railway station at about 4 or 4.30 A.M. in the morning and took over the investigation of the case from S. I, Janardan Pathak. Some time after taking over the investigation, he walked along the railway line to the side of Lakshmiganj railway station and near about the culvert found the box Ex. 2, and 76 small pieces of currency notes, which were sealed by him in an envelope, Ex. 10. Some of the passengers, who were travelling in the second and third class compartments, were detained at Ramkola station and their statements were recorded. Subsequently the investigation of the case was taken over by Inspector E.P.N. Singh of the C. I. D.;