PRAFULLA C.PANT, J. - (1.) THIS appeal, preferred under Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred as Cr.P.C.), is directed against the judgment and order dated 10.05.1995, passed by learned Ses­sions Judge, Tehri Garhwal, in Sessions trial No. 14 of 1992, whereby the accused/appellant Lechu Singh has been con­victed under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred as I.P.C.), and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He is further convicted under Sec­tion 27 of the Arms Act, 1959, and sen­tenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year on that count.
(2.) HEARD learned counsel for the par­ties and perused the trial court record. Prosecution story, in brief, is that on 29.09.1991, at about 08:30 P.M., P.W. 2 Sauna Devi (wife of Cyan Singh) raised alarm in village Jamola, within the limits of police station Muni-Ki-Reti, on which her neighbours including P.W.4 Daleb Singh, Ratan Singh and Jabar Singh rushed towards house of Cyan Singh (deceased). On reaching there they saw Gyan Singh lying wounded, in a pool of blood. P.W. 2 Sauna Devi told the vil­lagers that accused/appellant Lechu Singh has fired shot at her husband and ran away. Due to darkness in night the villagers could not take the injured from the village and it is only on 30.09.1991, at early hours, they took him td the near­est hospital Narendra Nagar where he was admitted at 07:45 A.M. Considering his critical condition, the doctors at Narendra Nagar referred the injured (Gyan Singh) to Doon Hospital, Dehradun, where he was taken on 08:30 P.M. and declared brought dead. Thereafter, the dead body of Cyan Singh was taken back to the village and a first information report (Ext. A-1) was lodged by P.W. 1 Bachan Singh with the police station Muni-Ki-Reti, at 01:00 A.M., on 01.10.1991. On the basis of said re­port, the police prepared the check report (Ext. A-3) and registered crime No. 58 of 1991, relating to offence punishable un­der Section 302 of I.P.C., and one pun­ishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act, against Lechu Singh. Necessary entry was made in the general diary (extract of which is Ext. A-4). P.W. 6 Sub Inspector Ashok Kumar Tyagi took up the investi­gation of the case. Sub Inspector Genda Singh Verma took the dead body of the deceased in his possession and got pre­pared the inquest report (Ext. A-11) at 07:00 A.M, on the very day i.e. 01.10.1991. He also prepared other con­nected papers - police form No. 13 (Ext. A-12); letter to the Chief Medical Officer for postmortem examination (Ext. A-13) and sketch of the dead body (Ext. A-14). The dead body of Cyan Singh was sent for postmortem examination. P.W. 5 Dr. Shishir Kumar, Medical Officer of Narendra Nagar, conducted postmortem examination on the dead body of Cyan Singh on 01.10.1991, at 11:00 A.M., and prepared autopsy report (Ext. A-2). He re­corded the four firearm ante mortem in­juries and opined that cause of death was due to haemorrhage and shock as a re­sult of ante mortem injury No. (i). On 02.10.1991, the Investigating Officer ar­rested accused/appellant Lechu Singh af­ter interrogating the witnesses, and recov­ered SBBL gun (Ext. 2) and prepared the memorandum of recovery (Ext. A-5). He also took blood stained clothes of the de­ceased and blood stained stone from the place of incident and prepared the memo­randum Ext. A-9 and Ext. A-8, respec­tively. The gun recovered and the blood­stained clothes were sent for chemical ex­amination to the Forensic Laboratory, Agra. P.W. 7 Ramashraya Pandey, Assist­ant Director, Forensic Laboratory, sent forensic laboratory report (Ext. A-10). On completion of investigation, the Investigat­ing Officer submitted charge sheet against accused/appellant Lechu Singh for his trial in respect of offence punishable un­der Section 302 of I.P.C., and one pun­ishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959.-
(3.) THE Chief Judicial Magistrate, on receipt of the charge sheet, after giving necessary copies to the accused, as re­quired under Section 207 of Cr.P.C., committed the case to the court of Ses­sions, for trial. Learned Sessions Judge, Tehri Garhwal, after hearing the parties, on 12.08.1992 framed charge of offence punishable under Section 302 of I.P.C., and one punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959, against the accused/appellant Lechu Singh. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. On this, the prosecution got examined P.W. 1 Bachan Singh (complainant and brother of the deceased); P.W. 2 Sauna Devi (eyewitness and widow of the deceased); P.W. 3 Juppi (an eyewitness and minor daughter of the deceased); P.W.4 Daleb Singh (neighbour of the deceased who reached at the spot on alarm being raised by wife of the deceased); P.W. 5 Dr. Shishir Kumar (who conducted post­mortem examination on the dead body of deceased Gyan Singh); P.W. 6 Sub In­spector Ashok Kumar Tyagi (who investi­gated the crime) and P.W. 7 Ramashraya Pandey (Assistant Director, Forensic Laboratory, Agra). The oral and docu­mentary evidence was put to the accused under Section 313 of Cr.P.C., in reply to which he alleged the same to be false. However, no evidence in defence was ad­duced on behalf of the accused. The trial court, after hearing the parties, found ac­cused Lechu Singh guilty of charge of of­fence punishable under Section 302 of I.P.C., and one punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. After hearing the parties, the convict (present appellant) was sentenced to imprisonment for life un­der Section 302 of I.P.C., and further sen­tenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for period of one year under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. Aggrieved by said judgment and order dated 10.05.1995, passed by Sessions Judge. Tehri Garhwal, in Sessions Trial No. 14 of 1992, this appeal was filed by the convict before the Allahabad High Court on 21.06.1995, where it was admitted on 22.06.1995. The appeal is received by this Court un­der Section 35 of the U.P. Reorganization Act. 2000 (Central Act No. 29 of 2000) for its disposal.;