- (1.) CHALLENGE in this appeal is to the judgement passed by Special Judge, E.C. Act, Etah in Session Trial No. 156 of 1982 whereby the appellants namely Sudhir, Sudhakar and Sunil Kumar were held guilty, convicted and sentenced under section 302 read with 134 IPC with imprisonment for life. A fine of Rs. 2000/ - was also imposed against each of them, in default of which, they were required to suffer a further period of rigorous imprisonment for six months.
(2.) WE have heard Shri A.B.L. Gaur, learned Senior Advocate on behalf of the appellants and Sri Akhilesh Singh, learned Government Advocate assisted by Sri R.K. Singh and Sri Anand Tewari appearing for the State and have carefully gone through the records.
(3.) THE prosecution version in nutshell is as follows: - The deceased Dharam Dev @ Munna, S/o complainant Prem Narain and, the appellants Sudhir, Sudhakar and Sunil Kumar were the residents of the same locality in district Etah. Appellants Sudhir and Sudhakar are the real brothers and Sunil Kumar is their cousin brother (Mausera bhai). According to prosecution case, the deceased Dharam Dev @ Munna had advanced some money by way of loan to the accused appellant Sudhir as a financial aid for opening and running a hotel. However, appellant Sudhir was not returning the loan on some pretext or the other despite several demands made by deceased Dharam Dev. It is alleged that two days prior to the present occurrence, at about 8.00 or 9.00 a.m., deceased Dharam Dev had gone to the hotel of Sudhir and had demanded back his money from the appellant Sudhir publicly. Some hot words and abuses had been exchanged between the two and Dharam Dev had slapped accused Sudhir during such altercation. The aforesaid incident as per prosecution version, is the motive behind the present occurrence. It is said that on the fateful day i.e. 18.1.1981, at about 8:30 p.m., when Dharam Dev was sitting in his house along with his father (complainant Prem Narain) and two sisters Km. Saroj and Madhu, after finishing some repair works on his motorcycle, suddenly appellant Sudhir having a dagger (Chhura) in his hand and appellants Sudhakar and Sunil Kumar, each armed with a knife stormed into his house through the main gate. They scolded Dharam Dev by saying that he has humiliated them publicly in the market by making the demand to return the loan and for that they would teach him a lesson. After that all the appellants attacked on Dharam Dev with Chhura and knives they were carrying. Dharam Dev in order to rescue himself ran towards courtyard and then towards his personal room situated in the north side after crossing another courtyard but immediately he returned towards south in the first courtyard. During all this process, the appellants were throughout chasing him and were giving chhura and knife blows to him. The deceased also grappled with them. During the scuffle and in the process of snatching away the chhura and knife, the appellants also sustained injuries in their hands. Ultimately Dharam Dev fell down in the southern verandah and succumbed to his injuries on the spot. After the occurrence, all the appellants managed to escape from the place of occurrence running to the roof through the staircase and thereafter jumping from the roof into Khandhar (ruins) of Shankar lal. All the appellants having prior acquaintance with the family members of the deceased were seen and identified by them in the moonlight and in the light of electric bulbs lighting everywhere at that time in the house.;