- (1.) THIS appeal has been preferred against the judgment dated 28. 9. 85 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Jodhpur, whereby he convicted appellant Sawai Singh for the offence u/s. 302 IPC and sentenced him to imprisonment for life and imposed a fine of Rs. 1000/- and in default to further undergo one year's R. I. and appellant Pratap Singh u/s. 302/34 IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 500/- and in default to further undergo R. I. for six months.
(2.) BRIEFLY the prosecution case is that on 16. 6. 83 at about 5. 45 PM, PW 1 Suja Ram Darji was working on his shop. He heard cries to the effect, "vkneh ekjs js vkneh ekjs js" coming from the side of Ganesh temple. Thereupon, he came running and found that deceased Deepa Ram Darji, who was working on his shop, situated in the Sadar bazar of Pokaran, was being dragged away by appellant Sawai Singh. Appellant Sawai Singh was accompanied with two more persons, which were later on identified as appellant Pratap Singh & absconding accused Narpat Singh. Pratap Singh had a lathi, while Narpat Singh carried a hockey stick. Appellant Sawai Singh pulled down Deepa Ram and felled him on the road. Appellant Sawai Singh dealt many blows by his sword on Deepa Ram and chopped off his head. Appellant Pratap and Narpat Singh, who had come with the appellant Sawai Singh, positioned themselves on his both sides and did not permit any person to come near them. Thereafter, appellant Sawai Singh caught hold of the severed head of deceased Deepa Ram from his hair and all the three assailants hastily proceeded towards Kumharon Ki Pol. When they reached near Kumharon Ki Pol, they alighted in a Jonga Jeep bearing No. RSN 4811 which was being driven by co-accused Rajendra Singh and went away. It is alleged that the said incident was witnessed by many persons in the market including PW 14 Bhagwanji Pan Wala, PW 12 Loonji and one Mohammedan lady PW 4 Smt. Jallu. It is alleged that PW 4 Smt. Jallu intervened to rescue Deepa Ram, but one of the companions of appellant Sawai Singh dealt a lathi blow on her. It is the case of the prosecution that the assailants, while making good their escape left the sheath of that sword (Article 6) and a pair of shoes on the place of occurrence. It is further the case of the prosecution that the motive for the murder was that the deceased Deepa Ram and his cousin PW 1 Suja Ram had inflicted injuries and cut the nose of appellant Sawai Singh's father Ran Singh for which the police, after investigation, had filed a chargesheet against the deceased and Suja Ram and after trial, the deceased was found guilty & sentenced by the Court. Hence, the appellant Sawai Singh avenged that act of the deceased. Pw-1 Suja Ram immediately went to Police Station, Pokaran, where he submitted written report Ex. P. l on the same day at 6 PM before Pw 22 Lal Singh, S. H. O. , who drew the formal F. I. R. Ex. P. 32 and registered a case under sec. 302 IPC. Lal Singh informed the S. P. , Jaisalmer on phone about the said incident and rushed to the place of occurrence. There, he found the beheaded body or deceased Deepa Ram and trail of blood stains leading towards Kumharon Ki Pol. The persons, who had assembled there, informed Lal Singh that the assailants had made good their escape in a Jonga Jeep. Lal Singh, therefore, directed Head Constable Sabal Singh to make necessary arrangements for protection of the place of occurrence and told him that as he was going in hot pursuit of the assailants and if there was any delay in his return then some other Investigating Officer should be called. Pw 22 Lal Singh S. H. O. alongwith police party went in search of assailants, tracking the Jonga tyre marks in the police jeep to various villages namely Sankara, Thaat, Bhiyad, Undu, Phalsund etc. It is the case of the prosecution that on 17. 6. 83 at about 1. 45 A. M. , Lal Singh found a Jonga Jeep bearing No. RSN 4811 lying concealed in bushes at a distance of about one kilometer away from village Dantal. He seized that jeep vide seizure memo Ex. P. 25. It is further the case of the prosecution that on the wireless message sent by the Dy. S. P. , Jaisalmer, PW 21 Jai Singh, S. I. Police Station Nachna reached Police Station, Pokaran on 17. 6. 83 at 2. 30 A. M. He was directed to conduct the investigation in this case. Thereupon, he rushed to the place of the occurrence, where he found the beheaded b6dy of the deceased lying on the road in the market in front of Mohanlal Bissa's godown. On the platform outside the said godown, deceased Deepa Ram's sewing machine and stitched garments were lying. On the said platform, a pair of shoes (Article 4) was also found lying. He also found a blood stained sheath (Article 6), a pair of shoes and a blood stained lathi (Article 10) alleged to have been left by the assailants, lying near the dead body. An empty cloth bag (Article 9) and a packet containing lady garments were also found lying there. PW 21 Jai Singh also noticed a trail of blood stains on the southern side of the dead body upto a distance of about 20 feet on the road. He inspected the site, prepared site plan Ex. P. 31 and its memo Ex. P. 2. He held the inquest of the dead body vide inquest memo Ex. P. 7, seized and sealed the blood stained soil and the control sample, blood stained hair of the deceased, blood stained sheath and the blood stained lathi vide seizure memo Ex. P. 28, empty cloth bag, packet containing garments, pair of shoes of the deceased and another pair of shoes left by the assailants vide seizure memo Ex. P. 29. He also sent the beheaded body of deceased to the Medical Officer, Primary Health Centre, Pokaran. Dr. Gajesh Bhargava conducted the post mortem examination of the dead body at 8 AM on 17. 6. 83. He found that the neck of decapitated body of Deepa Ram was totally cut. The decapitation appeared to have been done in two planes. Anteriorly at the level of C7 vertebra, all large vessels, trachea, oesophagus and soft tissues were cut in one plane. The C7 vertebra was also cut half way. Posteriorly, skin, muscles, vertebral column and trachea were cut at C6 level. Soft tissues and skin were seen coming out at different planes by ragged incisions. In all five cut ends of skin edges were found. All soft tissues were seen retracted. The vertebral column was chopped at C6 level. The spinal cord was retracted inside. All vessels were cut and seen protruding. A piece of trachea 3 cm in size, was seen hanging just attached with distal part at the level of C7. On compression, the trachea was found full with blood. The wounds were wet with serum. He noticed an incised wound 20cm x 6cm x thoracic cage deep at the level of fourth rib and sternum and costal cartilage at the level of third rib right side. The underlying right lung tissue was found cut. Another incised wound measuring 18 x 10cm was on the right shoulder. The underlying muscles, head of humerus, acronial end of clavical and scapula were found chopped off. The chopped pieces of bone attached with muscle tissue were cut. The third incised wound 8cm x 3cm x bone deep was on the right shoulder. There was an incised wound 15cm x 10cm starting from right arm to the middle of the forearm cutting all muscles vertically alongwith lamellar, chopping off head of radius and upper one third of radius laterally. Another incised wound was on the left forearm 6cm long transverse into bone deep cutting the ulna. There was an incised wound with multiple ragged edges starting from junction of upper one third and middle one third left forearm posteriorly direct downwards, forwards & medially cutting all underlying muscles and ulna vertically down upto the lower end. Three medial carpols were seen cut vertically. The palm was cut vertically; metacarpals of ring & little finger were cut vertically. He also found incised wound 2. 5cm x. 2cm on left thumb cutting the nail bone; an incised wound 3cm x. 5cm posteriorly on the left index finger in proximal phalynx and yet another incised wound 15cm x 7cm x scapula deep on the left shoulder. Dr. Bhargava opined that the cause of death was due to massive haemorrhage and suffocation as a result of decapitation and aforesaid multiple injuries as per post mortem report Ex. P. 8.
(3.) AFTER the post mortem examination, Jai Singh seized and sealed the blood stained shirt (Article 2), blood stained dhoti (Article 1) and blood stained 'angochha' (towel) (Article 3), which were taken out from the dead body of deceased vide seizure memo Ex. P. 30. Pw 22 Lal Singh returned to Police Station, Pokaran on 17. 6. 83 at about 10 A. M. and thereafter the investigation in the case was conducted by him. He recorded the statements of various witnesses. Appellant Sawai Singh was arrested on 21. 6. 83 vide arrest memo Ex. P. 17. On the same day, he made a disclosure statement Ex. P. 34 and in pursuance thereof got recovered blood stained sword (Article 14), his blood stained pant (Article 15) and blood stained shirt (Article 16), which were lying concealed under a 'ker' bush from the bed of Modna river near village Tejmalta. All those articles were seized and sealed in various packets vide recovery memo Ex. P. 18. It is alleged that on 21. 6. 83, Pw 7 Jagdish Chandra, S. H. O. , P. S. , Sankara was informed by a villager that a decomposed head of a male person alongwith blood stained dhoti were lying in the field of one Nakhat Singh near village Betina. Since Jagdish Chandra had the information that one person was beheaded in the main market of Pokaran a few days ago, he therefore immediately informed the S. H. O. , P. S. Pokaran. Thereupon Pw 15 Joga Ram A. S. I. alongwith informant Pw 1 Suja Ram went to Police Station, Sankara. From there, they accompanied Pw 7 Jagdish Chandra and went to village Betina. There, in the field of Nakhat Singh, one skull of a male person alongwith skin, hair and two blood stained dhoties were recovered, which were seized and sealed vide seizure memo Ex. P. 13. The blood stained soil and the control sample from the place of recovery were also sealed in different packets. Pw 1 Suja Ram identified the said head as that of deceased Deepa Ram. ;