PRADEEP KUMAR SINGH BAGHEL,J. - (1.) In this appeal the appellants-Ram Subhag Yadav, Banarasi Yadav (both real brothers), Ram Narain Yadav and Shiv Nath Yadav assail the judgment and order of the IIIrd Additional District and Sessions Judge, Basti Trial Court dated 14th February, 1997 passed in Session Trial No. 89 of 1994, State v. Ram Subhag Yadav and others, arising out of Case Crime No. 81 of 1994 , under Section 302 I.P.C., Police Station Khalilabad, District Basti. By the impugned judgment and order the appellants have been convicted and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 10,000/- each for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 I.P.C. In case of failure to pay the amount of fine, six months' additional rigorous imprisonment has been awarded to the appellants. All the appellants stood the trial under Section 302/34 I.P.C.
(2.) The facts of the case, insofar as material for this appeal, are that P.W.-1 Smt. Gujrati, an eighty years' old widow, submitted a written report (tehrir) to the Inspector, Kotwali Khalilabad, District Basti on 28th January, 1994, on the basis of which a first information report FIR was registered on the same day i.e. 28th January, 1994 at 08.45 A.M. as Case Crime No. 81 of 1994, under Section 302 I.P.C. In her tehrir she has stated that on the same day i.e. 28th January, 1994 in the morning at about 07.00 A.M. her two sons Ram Singh and Ram Sewak Singh were going to attend a court case at Gorakhpur and she (the informant) and her granddaughter Km. Anita, P.W.-2, who was aged about ten years, were accompanying them to see them off at the main road, from where they were to take bus for Gorakhpur. The pathway, which connects the village to the road, passes through a grove land. At about 07.00 A.M. in the morning when they reached in the said grove, they saw that Ram Subhag Yadav, appellant no. 1, armed with Kulhari (axe), Banarasi, appellant no. 2, armed with Talwar (sword), Ram Narain and Shiv Nath, appellant nos. 3 and 4 respectively, armed with Katta (country made pistol) were hidden behind the trees and when they reached near them, Ram Subhag exhorted other accused persons to kill her sons Ram Singh and Ram Sewak Singh and attacked on them. The FIR gives the details regarding the use of different weapons by the accused persons. It says that Ram Subhag and Banarasi assaulted them with axe and sword and Ram Narain and Shiv Nath fired at them from a close range. In the said incident her both the sons received grievous injuries and died on the spot. It is further mentioned in the tehrir that when the assailants surrounded her sons and started assaulting them, she along with her granddaughter Km. Anita sounded alarm loudly for help. Hearing their alarm, several persons, who were attending the call of nature near a river, which passes nearby the grove, rushed to the spot to save her sons. Names of such persons are mentioned in the FIR. Some of them are Yadhunath Pandey and Vijay Singh, who have witnessed the incident and also deposed in the trial as P.W.-3 and P.W.-4 respectively.
(3.) Accordingly, the FIR was registered at 08.45 A.M. and a chik FIR was prepared. The investigation was entrusted to P.W.-5 Sri Chauthi Ram, Inspector. The police reached the spot at about 09.30 A.M., recorded the statement of P.W.-1, the first informant, conducted inquest on the dead bodies of late Ram Singh and Ram Sewak Singh and the dead bodies were sent for autopsy. Inquest reports are Exhibits Ka-2 and Ka-3. The police also collected the bloodstained earth where the bodies of the deceased persons were found. The assailants had thrown their Kattas near the incident spot, which were also recovered. The police has sent the bloodstained earth and other articles of the deceased persons and the firearms to forensic laboratory.;