B.R. James, J. - (1.) DHANI Ram, Murli, Bhupal, Mihi Lal, Hodal, Ram Singh and Nain Sukh have come up in appeal against their conviction and sentences of seven years' rigorous imprisonment and Rs. 200/ - fine each for an offence Under Section 395, IPC.
(2.) IT is important to note that with the exception of Hodal, the Appellants are residents of village Parora, police circle Baila, district Aligarh, while Hodall belongs to Ramnagar, a village which adjoins Parora. On the other hand the dacoity was committed in village Mudesi, police circle Kotwali district Mathura. The crime has been described by the victim Sohan Lal and a large number of eyewitnesses. On the night between the 18 and 19 -3 -1956 Sohan Lal was sleeping in his shop adjoining his residential house, when soon after midnight the place was raided by ten or eleven dacoits, three of whom were armed with pistols. They fired a number of shots. They plundered the house and appropriated gold and silver ornaments and clothes worth about Rs 4,300/ -. When pressed by the village people they came out of the house and departed in a body. An important find by the villagers on the spot was a misfired cartridge left behind by one of the bandits. The faces of the robbers were clearly seen in the light of a lantern burning in the shop, an earthen lamp burning in the house and a number of torches flashed about by the village people. The miscreants themselves carried several electric torches. They were total strangers hence in the report which Sohan Lal made next morning to the Kotwali police no names could be mentioned. The factum of the crime is not denied, hence the question before me is whether or not the participation of the Appellants in it has been established beyond reasonable doubt.
(3.) IT is necessary to give an account of a most important incident, for it was this incident which led to the tracing out of the criminals. Raya is a police station in district Mathura situated on the Mathura Hathras highway. Hoshiar Singh, the Station Officer of Raya, on the morning of the 19th March (i.e., the morning following the night of the dacoity, while the Kotwali police were still at the stage of the preliminary investigation and had no idea of the identity of the culprits) received information that some bad characters would be passing that way. Accordingly he took his stand at a convenient place on the road, intending to check suspicious persons. In a tonga coming from the direction of Mathura were two strangers holding bags. They were the Appellants Dhani Ram and Murali. On their bags being searched, both were found to contain clothes which appeared suspiciously like stolen goods. In addition, Dhani Ram carried an unlicensed country made pistol. Both men were accordingly arrested and interrogated. They were immediately placed in purdah and sent to the District Jail with due precautions. As a result of their interrogation SO Hoshiar Singh sent a written note to the Kotwali police informing them of the persons suspected to have taken part in the present dacoity. Arrest of the other Appellants speedily followed. * * * *;