- (1.) J. C. S. Rawat, J. 1. This is a criminal appeal against the judgment and order dated 28-04-1988 passed by Shri Bir Bhadra Singh, the then III Additional Sessions Judge, Nainital in S. T. No. 179/1987 State Vs. Gopal Singh and others, whereby the appellant-Gopal Singh was convicted under section 364,302/34 IPC read with 120- B1pc. The appellant-Virendra Singh was convicted under section 302/34 IPC and 120-B IPC. Both the appellants were sentenced to undergo Rl for life imprisonment. Both the sentences of appellants would run concur rently. However, by the said judgment and order the other accused person-Govind Singh was found not guilty and he was acquitted.
(2.) BRIEF facts of the prosecution case are that on 18-04-1987 the complainant-Dharam Sing PW1 lodged a written re port to the Patti Patwari Chopra alleging therein that on 16-04-1987 at about 8 pm the appellant-Gopal Singh came to his house and took his son-Puran Singh with him. Thereafter, his son Puran Singh (deceased) did not return home. On 18-04-1987 the complainant-Dharam Singh PW1 came to know that one dead body of young lad was lying in the canal at Bhujiaghat Gadhera. He reached at Bhujiaghat and found his son dead. He reported the matter to the police. The in vestigation was taken up as usual which culminated into the submission of the chargesheet. After submission of chargesheet the accused persons were committed to the court of Sessions for trial and the trial court framed charges against the accused persons. The accused persons denied the charges levelled against them and claimed the trial. The prosecution in order to support its case examined as many as eight wit nesses. Dharam Singh PW1 was the scribe of the report. He was the father of the de ceased. The prosecution has adduced the evidence of Radha Devi PW2 and Smt. Ganga PW3, mother of the deceased. Laxman Singh PW4 had stated that 2-3 days before the incident he saw the de ceased alive in the company of appellant-Gopal Singh. The prosecution has also ex amined the evidence of Lal Singh PW5, Ramesh Singh PW6 and Himmat Singh PW7. Ramesh Chandra Badhani PW8 (Patwari) was the Investigating Officer, who submitted the chargesheet against the accused persons. In the statement recorded u/s 313 Cr. P. C. the accused persons denied the prosecution case and stated that they have been falsely implicated in this case.
(3.) THE learned trial court after ap praisal of the evidence on record convicted and sentenced the appellants as men tioned above. However, co-accused Govind Singh was acquitted from the charges levelled against him. We have heard the learned coun sel for the parties and perused the evidence on record.;