Ramesh Sinha, J. - (1.) The present appeal has been filed by four accused-appellants out of which appellant no. 1 Babu Singh son of Shiva Singh died during the pendency of appeal. The appeal on his behalf has already been ordered to be abated by Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 9.2.2018 and the present appeal survives with respect to appellant nos. 2, 3 and 4, namely, Ashok Singh son of Babu Singh, Ram Pal Singh son of Jai Narain Singh, Surendra Singh @ Pallahar son of Atma Shanker Singh only, hence the Court proceeds to adjudicate the aforesaid appeal with respect to the said appellants.
(2.) The present appeal has been filed by the appellants against the judgment and order dated 24.5.1984 passed by IInd Additional Sessions Judge, Kanpur in S.T. No. 196 of 1983 convicting appellant no. 1 Babu Singh (now dead) under section 302 I.P.C. and appellant nos. 2 to 4, namely, Ashok Singh, Ram Pal Singh and Surendra Singh @ Pallahar under section 302/34 and sentencing all the appellants to undergo life imprisonment.
(3.) In the nutshell, the prosecution story is that in the night of 9.4.1983 at about 9 p.m., the deceased Sheo Ram Singh-father of P.W. 1 Har Mohan Singh, who is the informant of the case, was reciting Ramayana and the informant along with his mother and brother Raghunath Singh and cousin Rajendra Singh was listening the same in a room the doors of which were opened and in the Verandah lantern was burning on the ottoman (Takhat). At that moment, suddenly Babu Singh, who was armed with country made pistol, Ram Pal Singh son of Jai Narain Singh, Surendra Singh @ Pallahar son of Atma Shanker Singh and Ashok Singh son of Babu Singh, who were his neighbours and used to reside adjacent to his house, entered into the room. Accused Ashok Singh took the gun which was hanging in the room and accused Ram Pal Singh and Pallahar @ Surendra Singh dragged his father out of the room and brought him in the Verandah where accused Babu Singh shot at his father, who shouted and had fallen down. The informant and other people shouted and reached near the deceased. On the alarm raised by them, other persons of the village came at the spot and the aforesaid four accused persons went inside the house of Jai Narain Singh. He further stated that a litigation was going on between his father and Babu Singh, Ashok Singh, Ram Pal Singh and others with respect to an agricultural land on account of which his father was done to death by the accused persons. After the murder, the informant-Har Mohan Singh went to village Sheoli to the house of his aunt, namely, Phoolmati where a written report (Ex. Ka. 1) was scribe and signed by him and thereafter it was handed over at police station Sheoli. P.W. 3-Head Constable Shabbir Ahmad of police station Sheoli received the written report from Har Mohan Singh on 10.4.1983 and prepared the chik F.I.R. (Ex. Ka. 2) at 1:25 p.m. The case was entered by him in the G.D. vide copy (Ex. Ka. 3). The F.I.R. was registered as case crime no. 44 of 1983 under section 394, 302 I.P.C. against four accused persons including the appellants. The investigation of the case was conducted by P.W. 5 S.I. Badri Prasad Mishra. On 10.4.1983, he interrogated the informant Har Mohan Singh and others and recorded their statements under section 161 Cr.P.C. Thereafter, he visited the place of occurrence where the dead body of the deceased was lying in the Verandah. He took the dead body into his possession and drawn the inquest proceedings. Thereafter, the inquest and other police papers, i.e, (Exs. Ka-6 to 9) were prepared by him. After inquest, the dead body of the deceased was sealed and the same was dispatched along with other police papers for post mortem through Constable Raj Bahadur (P.W. 7) and Constable Santosh Kumar. The Investigating Officer prepared the site plan of the place of occurrence at the instance of Har Mohan Singh and proved the same as Ex. Ka-10. The lantern and the lit (Dipak) (material Exs. 1 and 2) which were reported to be the source of light in which the occurrence was seen, were found to be in working condition and a memo (Ex. Ka. 11) of the same was prepared. Material Exs. 1 and 2 were returned to Har Mohan Singh. One empty cartridge was also found in the Verandah near the dead body which was also collected and sealed and a memo (Ex. Ka. 12) was prepared. Blood was lying in the Verandah near the dead body. Blood stained and plain earth were collected from the Verandah and sealed in two separate packets and marked as Ex. Ka. 13. The police tried to search the accused named in the F.I.R. but they could not be apprehended nor gun which was stated to have been looted by accused Ashok Singh was also not recovered. The search memo (Ex. Ka. 14) was prepared by the Investigating Officer. On the same day at about 10 p.m., accused Ram Pal Singh was arrested by the Investigating Officer. The case property and accused Ram Pal Singh were brought to police station for further action. Thereafter, the Investigating Officer Badri Prasad Mishra was transferred and rest of the investigation was taken over by P.W. 6 Sub Inspector Gaya Prasad Maurya. On 26.4.1983, he received an information that accused Pallahar @ Surendra Singh surrendered in the Court. On 4.5.1983, he interrogated other witnesses and after completing the investigation submitted charge-sheet (Ex. Ka. 15) against the accused persons. The case property was sent by the Investigating Officer through Constable Raj Bahadur for chemical examination at Agra. The prosecution in evidence has tendered the report of the chemical examination (Ex. Ka. 16) according to which human blood was found on Baniyan, Janeo and key of the deceased. Blood stains were noticed on the other items sent for chemical examination but definite opinion could not be given. The prosecution has also filed certified copy of the judgment Ex. Ka. 17 given by the XIV Additional Munsif, Kanpur in a suit for cancellation of the sale deed filed by the deceased Sheo Ram Singh and others against accused Ram Pal Singh and others. The case was committed to the Court of Sessions and the trial Court framed charges against the accused persons for the aforesaid offence, who pleaded not guilty and claimed their trial.;