S.K.Phaujdar, N.S.Gupta - (1.) -The present appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 7.8.79 recorded by IVth Additional Sessions Judge, Varanasi, in S.T. No. 126 of 1977 whereby the first appellant was found guilty for an offence under Section 302/34, I.P.C. and the second appellant was found guilty for an offence of Section 302, I.P.C. read with Section 120B, I.P.C. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Upon appeal, the appellants were directed to be released on bail by an order dated 10.8.79 of this Court. During the pendency of the appeal, the appellant Sachchidanand Sharma was reported dead but no confirmation of the factum of his death came from the Court below even after a requisition. To avoid further delay in the matter, the appeal was heard in presence of the learned counsel for both the appellants.
(2.) THE prosecution story, as narrated in the first information report, was that Sri Shyam Sunder Sharma had been a teacher in Sanskrit and had been the Manager of another Sanskrit Institution. This Shyam Sunder Sharma had been a disciple of one Roop Deo. THEre had been an Ashram in a particular place in Bihar and the control of the Ashram was being claimed by this Roop Deo and one Brahmchari to the exclusion of each other. THE second appellant Ramprapannacharya was in favour of the aforesaid Brahmchari while Shyam Sunder Sharma (deceased in this case) had been working in favour of the other claimant Roop Deo. This created a bad blood between Ramprapannacharya (appellant No. 2) and Shyam Sunder Sharma (deceased). This appellant allegedly had threatened the deceased on earlier occasions. THE first appellant was stated to be a disciple of Ramprapannacharya. Sachchidanand Sharma had been a student in the institution where Shyam Sunder Sharma was teacher. In an examination, Sachchidanand allegedly resorted to unfair means and was debarred from taking the examination. He suspected the hands of Shyam Sunder Sharma behind this action and he had threatened Shyam Sunder Sharma with dire consequence. With this background, as stated in the F.I.R., a further story was given to say that on 10.12.1976 at about 6.15 p.m. Shyam Sunder Sharma was observing jap (ritual utterances of mantra) in his room in the hostel of Parankush Sanskrit College, Assi, police station Bhelupur, Varanasi, when Sachchidanand Sharma came there with two more associates and shot him dead and he had uttered that the directions of his Guru (Mentor) were fulfilled. The assailants thereafter ran away. The informant Venkatesh Sharma and certain others tried to chase him but under the threat of opening fire on them, the miscreants made good their escape. The F.I.R. suggested that Ramprapannacharya had conspired with Sachchidanand and others to kill Shyam Sunder Sharma and had executed their plan as above. At the trial, a charge was framed against Sachchidanand Sharma for having intentionally and knowingly caused the death of Shyam Sunder Sharma punishable under Section 302, I.P.C. He pleaded not guilty. As against Ramprapannacharya, it was stated that on the relevant date, the murder of Shyam Sunder Sharma was committed by Sachchidanand in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy entered into between Ramprapannacharya and Sachchidanand and some others and as such Ramprapannacharya was liable for an offence under Section 302/120B, I.P.C. He too pleaded not guilty to the charge.
(3.) THE prosecution examined 14 witnesses. (P.W. 1) Venkatesh Sharma and (P.W. 2) Ram Bhajan Sharma claimed to be eye-witnesses. (P.W. 2) Gadadhar Sharma was examined on the point of the conspiracy between Sachchidanand and Ramprapannacharya. P.W. 4 was Doctor M. A. Hafeez who had held post-mortem examination on the dead body of Shyam Sunder Sharma. P.Ws. 5 and 7, Parmanand Sharma and Madho Sharma, had produced and proved two letters said to have been written to them by the deceased and certain statements in the letters were proposed to be acted upon as dying declarations. P.W. 6, S. I. Jagjivan Singh was a witness on the point of execution of warrant of attachment against the property of Sachchidanand. P.W. 8 Jagdish Tiwari was the police officer who conducted part of the investigation. P.W. 9 Keshav Prasad Pandey, was the constable who had carried the dead body for the post-mortem. P.W. 10 Ram Sumer Singh was the Malkhana Moharrir in Varanasi through whom certain materials were sent for chemical examination, P.W. 11 Baijnath Ram was the Investigating Officer who completed the investigation. P.W. 12 Netra Pal Singh had conducted the inquest on the dead body. P.W. 13, Siddha Nath Yadav was an S.I. of police who proved certain G. D. entries and P.W. 14 Jainuddin was again a constable who had taken the viscera of the deceased for chemical examination. The defence also examined three witnesses. D.W., S. N. Prasad had been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology in Nalanda Medical College, Patna. The defence proved through him certain medical reports of Sachchidanand presumably with a view to set up a plea of alibi. D.W. 2 was Dr. Baldeo Singh a Medical Officer in Bihar. He too proved that on 9.12.1976 one Sachchidanand Sharma was admitted and treated in a Nursing Home at Patna and on the next date, a surgery was done in his abdomen. He identified the appellant Sachchidanand Sharma in Court. D.W. 3 was Sri Aditya Sharma who was a distant relation of the deceased. He proved the relationship of the informant Venkatesh Sharma and witness Rambhajan with the deceased.;