- (1.) THIS appeal was preferred by Virendra Singh, appellant, against his conviction under Sections 302, 452 and 307 I. P. C. and consequent sentences of imprisonment for life, one year R. I. and 7 years R. I. passed by Sri P. C. Jain, I Additional Sessions Judge, Shahjahanpur, on 8-4-1980 in S. T. No. 474 of 1979.
(2.) THE prosecution story, as contained in the F. I. R. , is as under: Ghashi Ram son of Ram Dayal, a farmer, has his house in the east of the village. He is a resident of village Baragaon. According to him some 20-25 days ago appellant Virendra Singh son of Ganga Singh assaulted his nephew Ram Das, who used to ply rickshaw, with a knife. THE appellant was challaned in that case. On 15-7-1979, at about 9. 00 a. m. , the appellant, with a single barrel gun in his hand, came inside the Chappar of his house, hurling abuses. He shouted at him that he should turn out Ram Chander from his house. He will not leave him alive. He has come after killing his father. Immediately after that he opened fire on him, but the fire, instead of hitting him, hit his grand son aged about 3 years, Ram Naresh. He fell down and died instantaneously. THE alarm raised by him and the females of his family attracted Ram Bharose, etc. from his neighbourhood. THE appellant left his house shouting that any one who will come across him shall also be killed. On the road, near his house, a person from Udna village, Pandit Shyam Behari, was coming from the front, was also fired upon by the appellant. He fell down after receiving the gunshot injuries and died. THE appellant opened more fires on towards the road, the pellets of which struck some other persons and the passer-by. Later on, on raising of the alarm by villagers the appellant went towards Bareli village in the west. It is also stated in the F. I. R. that he had heard that on Bareli road in village Baragaon, in the Har, he fired upon Principal Sheo Prakash Agrawal causing injuries to him also. Leaving his grand son in the charge of his family members he went to lodge the report. A case was registered at Crime No. 179 on 15-7-1979 at 9. 45 a. m. THE distance of the place of occurrence from the police station was 2 miles south. At 9. 30 a. m. on the same day, i. e. on 15-7-1979, another report for the murder of Ganga Singh, father of the appellant, was registered at the same police station. The occurrence in both the cases is alleged to have taken place at about 9. 00 a. m. In this F. I. R. Shree Krishna, Ram Chander and Ram Das were arrayed as accused. They killed Ganga Singh by causing knife injuries on his person. In the F. I. R. , lodged by Smt. Bitoli, wife of deceased Ganga Singh, it was alleged that they were earlier residing in village Simra. They had started living in Baragaon for the last one year. He had to abandon his original residence on account of some enmity between. Thus, Shree Krishna and his companions. The enmity commenced on the purchase of 3 Bigha grove land in village Baragaon from Kayasthas, probably the Zamindars. This land was purchased by him two years ago. The land was in illegal possession of Shree Krishna. Due to purchase of the grove, Shree Krishna and his companions nursed animus against the father of the appellant. Since then they were trying to turn Ganga Singh out from the village. About a year and a half ago these persons abducted Ganga Singh's daughter, Kamla. They were challaned for that offence. Some months later they set her house afire. They were challaned for this offence also. On account of fear of these persons, they settled in village Baragaon. This did not deter them. Their activities against the deceased Ganga Singh continued unabated. They involved Virendra, the appellant, in a knifing case. He was challaned for the offence. In that case the victim was Ram Das. She further stated that on the date of occurrence, i. e. on 15-7-1979 she along with her husband was sitting on the platform in front of the shop of Ram Swaroop, a tailor master, waiting for a bus to go to Shahjahanpur to fetch medicines. In the meantime, Shree Krishna, Ram Chander and Ram Das were sighted by them. As soon as they came near deceased Ganga Singh, Ram Das exhorted his companions, "kill him, so that every day quarrel should come to an end. " Ram Das caught hold of her husband. Shree Krishan and Ram Chander started belabouring him with knife. They raised alarm. The victim Ganga Singh some how managed his freedom and ran towards south. He fell down at the turn of the lane and died there. Tea vendor Suraj, Tailor master Ram Swaroop and many passer-by had seem the occurrence. She proceeded to lodge the report after leaving village Chaukidar and some other villagers to keep a vigil on the dead body of her husband. This report was transcribed at 9. 30 a. m. In the impugned incident two persons, Ram Naresh and Shyam Behari lost their lives. Some others have also suffered pellet injuries. They are Om Prakash, Ram Nath, Smt. Ram Devi, Noor Ali, Noor Mohammad and Shiv Prakash Agrawal. These injured persons were medically examined by P. W. 1 Dr. U. C. Gaur and P. W. 7 Dr. Sat Pal. X-Ray examination of the injuries of these persons was undertaken by P. W. 12 Dr. P. S. Verma. Their injury reports are Exts. Ka-1 to Ka 5 and Ka-9. X-Ray reports are Exts. Ka-26 to Ka-28.
(3.) THE post-mortem examination on the two dead bodies were conducted by P. W. 2 Dr. M. L. Tandon. THE post-mortem examination reports are Exts. Ka-6 and Ka-7. The prosecution in support of its case examined P. W. 3 Ghasi Ram, P. W. 4 Noor Ali, P. W. 5 Smt. Shiv Devi, P. W. 6 Shiv Prakash Agarwal and P. W. 9 Ram Bharosey as eyewitnesses of the incident. The case was investigated by P. W. 11 S. I. Bhim Singh. P. W. 10 S. I. Achaya Prasad Tiwari prepared the inquest memos. This is, in the nutshell, entire prosecution evidence.;