- (1.) Accused-appellants Hawa Singh, Rajesh, Devi Lal, Maina Devi, Surender, Pala Ram and Sahab Ram were convicted for the offences under Section 302/149/148 IPC. Accused Prithvi Singh who was charged with offence under Section 201 IPC was acquitted of the charge. Accused Raja Ram died during the pendency of the trial. All the 7 accused convicted by the trial Court have preferred the present appeal.
(2.) a) The brief case of the prosecution is that Bimla (since deceased) daughter of Ram Chander was married to Hans Raj (since deceased). They were not blessed with any issue. Hans Raj owned 18 acres of land. PW1 Rajinder Singh was the brother of Bimla. Rohit son of Rajinder Singh was brought up by Bimla and Hans Raj. They wanted to adopt him as their son. But it was not liked by accused Hawa Singh and accused Rajesh who are the sons of Shiv Lal, brother of Hans Raj. They used to pick-up quarrel with Hans Raj over the proposal of Bimla and Hans Raj to adopt Rohit. Accused Hawa Singh and Rajesh apprehended that Rohit would inherit the lands of Hans Raj by depriving their right of inheritance. b) On 22.8.2001, PW1 Rajinder alongwith his nephew PW2 Vijay Singh proceedeed to the house of Hans Raj to see his sister Bimla and his son Rohit. PW1 and PW2 reached the dhani of Hans Raj at about 10.00 a.m. On reaching the dhani, they saw accused Hawa Singh, Rajesh, Maina Devi, Sahab Ram, Surender, Raja Ram, Pala Ram and Devi Lal inflicting injuries to Hans Raj and Bimla with kulhari, kasia and gandasi possessed by them. PW1 and PW2 got frightened on seeing the occurrence. They got back to their village Dhangar by scooter and disclosed the occurrence to their family members. Having collected their family members, they got back to dhani of Hans Raj at village Rata Khera. They found the dead bodies of Hans Raj and Bimla lying in open. PW1 having left his relatives at the spot proceeded to the police station and moved an application Ex.P1. c) On the basis of the application (Ex.P1) PW10 S.I. Shamsher Singh recorded formal FIR (Ex.P30). He alongwith other police officials proceeded to the dhani of Bimla and Hans Raj. Having spotted the dead bodies of Bimla and Hans Raj he conducted the inquest and prepared the inquest reports (Ex.P6) and (P11). He collected blood stained earth from the scene of occurrence near the dead bodies of Hans Raj and Bimla under recovery memoes Exs.P2 and P3. He also prepared site plan Ex.P31 reflecting the place of recovery. He summoned PW8 Gurdev Singh, Photographer and took photographs of the dead bodies at the scene of occurrence. PW3 Bodh Raj, Patwari of the village prepared a scale site plan. d) PW4 Dr.N.Chakarwarti conducted post mortem examination on the dead body of Bimla on 23.8.2001. He found incised wounds on the neck, right side of the forehead, right angle of the mouth, right lateral side of the eyebrow, right upper arm, right side of the back and right shoulder joint. He opined that Bimla had died due to multiple ante mortem injuries which led to haemorrhage and shock. Those injuries were sufficient to cause her death in the ordinary course of nature. e) PW5 Dr.Nidhi Sanduja conducted post mortem examination on the dead body of Hans Raj on 28.3.2001. She found incised wounds on the lower end of the left forearm, left upper arm, left ear, neck, lower lip, chin, left upper forehead, right side of the skull, left forearm and lower left forearm. In her opinion, Hans Raj had died due to haemmorhage and shock on account of multiple injuries which were sufficient to cause his death in the ordinary course of nature. f) Gulzar Singh, sarpanch of the village produced Hawa Singh and Rajesh before PW11 Chandagi Ram on 28.8.2011. Both the accused were separately interrogated by PW11 in the presence of PW10 SI Shamsher Singh and Happy, Sarpanch of the village Rattangarh and Parmod son of Rattan Singh. Accused Hawa Singh made disclosure statement Ex.P33. Based on the above disclosure statement a weapon kulhari was recovered from his field and his kurta and pyjama which were found blood stained were recovered from a steel box in his house. Accused Rajesh also made disclosure statement (Ex.P34) based on which kasola was recovered from his field and blood stained baniyan was recovered from the steel box in the house of his brother accused Hawa Singh. After investigation of the matter, final report was laid as against accused Hawa Singh, Rajesh and Prithvi. It is to be noted that the other accused were summoned by the trial Court by invoking the provision under Section 319 Cr.P.C. during the trial.
(3.) The trial Court having relied upon the evidence of ocular witnesses PW1 and PW2 in the background of recovery of the weapons based on the disclosure statements given by them and the medical evidence on record, recorded conviction as against these accused-appellants as stated supra.;