- (1.) 1. This criminal appeal has been preferred from jail against the judgment and order dated 12-9-2002 passed by Sri Rama Kant Sharma, the then Ses sions Judge, Rudraprayag in S. T. No. 23/2002, whereby the appellants were convicted u/s 460 I. P. C. and sentenced them to undergo R. I. for a period of ten years.
(2.) THE prosecution case in. a nut shell is that on 11-6-2002 at about 11-12 p. m. in the night few miscreants tried to break the lock of the Coopera tive Bank situated in the upper storey of the house of deceased Budhi Singh Rana. THE deceased-Budhi Singh Rana came out from his room with torch and objected them not to do so. On this, the miscreants attacked on him by sariya, sabbal and sharp edged weapon (heavy iron rod ). When Smt. Rajeshwari Devi (PW2) and Km. Anita tried to rescue the deceased, the miscreants also caused the injuries to them. THE ac cused persons switched off the main switch. THEreafter, the brother of the deceased-Chandra Singh (PW1) was informed about the incident. After re ceiving the information, Chandra Singh reached at about 12:30 P. M. at the house of his brother- deceased and the entire story was narrated to him. THE deceased was immediately taken to Bora Nursing Home, Rudraprayag, from where he was referred to Base Hospital, Srinagar. When Chandra Singh was taking his brother to Base Hospital, Srinagar for medical treat ment, the deceased succumbed to his injuries on the way. THEreafter, the de ceased was taken back to Rudraprayag Hospital for postmortem. On the very next day i. e. 12-6-2002 at about 8 a. m. Chandra Singh (PW1) lodged the writ ten report (Ex. ka. 1) at police station Rudraprayag against the unknown per sons. On the basis of the written report, a chick FIR (Ex. ka. 3) was prepared and a case was registered. S. H. O.-R. P. Singh (PW6) inspected the spot and recovered sariya, sabbal, torch, kudal etc. from the place of incident and pre pared the recovery memo of these items as Ex. ka. 5. He also took the sam ples of blood stained and plain earth from the place of incident. He also pre pared the site-plan (Ex. ka. 7 ). On being received an information with regard to the whereabouts of the accused per sons, R. P. Singh (PW6) alongwith po lice personnel reached at Madi-Gard and arrested the accused persons in presence of Smt. Rajeshwari Devi (PW2) and Km. Anita (PW3), who reached there and identified the ac cused persons. THE police prepared the arrest memo of the accused, which is marked as Ex. ka. 7. THE investigation was taken up as usual which culmi nated into the submission of the chargesheet (Ex. ka. 9 ). Charge was framed under sec tion 460 IPC against the appellants. The appellants denied the charges and claimed the trial. The prosecution in support of its case examined seven witnesses. The prosecution has adduced the evidence of the brother of the deceased-Chandra Singh (PW1), who lodged the FIR in the police station. Smt. Rajeshwari Devi (PW2) and Km. Anita (PW3) are the wife and daughter of the deceased re spectively. They are the eye-witnesses of the incident. Budhi Singh (PW4) has proved the Chick report (Ex. ka. 3) and G. D. entry (Ex. ka. 4 ). Shiv Singh Pawar (PW5) has proved the factum of arrest of the accused persons. He stated that he reached at the spot where the ac cused persons were identified by Smt. Rajeshwari Devi (PW2) and Km. Anita (PW3) and thereafter the appellants were arrested and memo Ex. ka. 4 was prepared. R. P. Singh (PW6) was the In vestigating Officer, who submitted the charge- sheet against the appellants. Dr. Manendra Singh (PW7) was the Medi cal Officer, who conducted the postmor tem of the deceased and found the fol lowing ante-mortem injuries on the per son of the deceased: (i) Incised wound measuring 8cm x 0. 5cm brain matter deep at the Rt. Side of the neck, Just behind the upper portion at the Rt. Pinna extending downward. (ii) Lacerated wound measuring 8cm x 1cm x brain matter deep at the vault at the skull 19cm above from the middle end at Rt. Eye brow. (iii) Abrasion at the latent side of the Rt. Elbow joint measuring 5cm x 2cm. Colour reded Brown. (iv) Multiple abrasions over Rt. Leg. Extending from the knee joint to the foot. Abrasions are situated at the shinad later sided the leg and foot, (v) Multiple abrasions at the left forearm to the left hand, (vi) Abrasion measuring 2cm x 2. 5cm over the medial mouth and left ankle joint. In the opinion of the Medical Of ficer, the death was caused due to shock and haemorrhage resulting from ante-mortem injuries sustained by the deceased. It was also opined that there was a fracture of right paratal bone. It was stated that injury (no. 1) was very fatal and it was caused by the sharp edged weapon. Injury No. 2 could be caused by blunt object like sabbal. He had further stated that the death might be caused by injury No. 1 and 2. He also proved the postmortem re port Ex. ka. 15.
(3.) IN the statement recorded u/s 313 Cr. P. C. the appellants denied the prosecution case and stated that they had been falsely implicated in this case. The appellants had stated that they belongs to Nepal and they are the citi zens of Nepal. The learned trial court after ap praisal of the evidence on record found the appellants guilty and convicted and sentenced them as mentioned above.;