- (1.) Appellants-accused Baljit Singh, Avtar Singh, Rama Shankar alias Manka and Rajinder Kumar alias Ajinder Kumar vide judgment and order of sentence dated 24.05.2003 were held guilty and were convicted for the commission of offence under Sections 449, 457 and 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "I.P.C.") and were sentenced as under:- (i) Section 449 I.P.C. to undergo imprisonment for life; (ii) Section 457 I.P.C. to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years; and (iii) Section 302 read with Section 34 I.P.C. to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each and in default of payment of fine, the defaulter to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months each. It was ordered that all the sentences shall run concurrently. Precisely, the story of the prosecution was that on 23.08.2000 Mohinder Singh son of Darshan Singh vide his statement Ex. PD/1 recorded by Kuldip Singh, Incharge, Police Post Sanuar, reported to the police that his cousin Kewal Singh, Sarpanch of Village, had gone to England to see his son Billa about 12/13 days back. He had left his wife's brother Hardial Singh son of Raghbir Singh, resident of Motipur, District Nainital (U.P.) and his maid servant Malka daughter of Kishan Chand to take care of his house. Malka had been working as maid servant in the house of Kewal Singh since her childhood. On that day i.e. 23.08.2000 at about 4.00 a.m., he (Mohinder Singh) and Karnail Singh son of Thakar Singh came to the house of Kewal Singh, hearing shouts of Malka. As he entered the house, they found Hardial Singh lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor in the Lobby with injuries on his person caused with a sharp edged weapon and the bolt of the door of the store was broken and the articles were lying scattered. Mohinder Singh added that Avtar Singh son of Sarwan Singh, resident of Jagatpura, had illicit relations with the maid servant Malka. He had many times restrained Avtar Singh from visiting the house of Kewal Singh in indulging into illegal activities. Hardial Singh also used to stop him (Avtar Singh), so he believed that Avtar Singh along-with his companions had murdered Hardial Singh to remove the obstruction in his way. The appellants-accused had also committed theft of valuable articles from the house of Kewal Singh, Sarpanch. The detail of the articles could only be described by the owners of the house.
(2.) Based on the statement of Mohinder Singh, formal First Information Report was recorded. Appellants-accused Baljit Singh, Avtar Singh, Rama Shankar alias Manka and Rajinder Kumar alias Ajinder Kumar were arrested and interrogated. Statements of witnesses under Section 161 Cr.P.C. were recorded.
(3.) On completion of investigation, inquiry report as envisaged under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short "Cr.P.C") was presented by the prosecution against all the four accused-appellants. The case was committed and on the basis of the material available the accused-appellants were charge sheeted for the commission of offence under Sections 449, 457 and 302 read with Section 34 of I.P.C. for having committed house trespass, theft of ornaments and murder of Hardial Singh. They pleaded not guilty to the charges and claimed trial.;