- (1.) This appeal by accused Hari Singh, Nihal Singh and Manphool Singh is directed against the judgment dated November 11, 1974 of the learned Sessions Judge, Jhunjhunu, whereby he convicted them under section 302 read with section 34 IPC and sentenced each of them to imprisonment for life.
(2.) Tersely speaking shorn of unnecessary details the prosecution story as disclosed at the trial is that accused Hari Singh was to be betrothed with the daughter of Jagniram, who was later on married to Kurdaram (since deceased). Hari Singh felt annoyed and conspired with other accused to commit the murder of Kurdaram.
(3.) Few days prior to the commission of the crime Kurdaram's sister Mst. Shanti went to her maternal uncles place. While coming back to her fathers place she inadvertently forgotten to bring her clothes. Kurdaram went to the house of his maternal uncle situated in village Gawali. After taking the clothes he started for his village. A day prior to the occurrence he was seen by PW 4 Vidhyadhar in the company of accused Hari Singh at nearly 10 a. m. on the outskirt of village Narhar. On the same day at nearly 6 p. m, PW 19 Hanuman and PW 5 Hukmi Chand saw all the three accused in the company of the deceased in the Bani of Khudiya. At that time they were drinking liquor. On the next day Kurdaram was of due lying dead at the same place. The villagers called Harlal Sarpanch, who gave a written report Ex. P/1 at the Police Station, Pilani on April 1, 1973 at 6.30 p. m. on the basis of which first information report Ex. P/2 was chalked out. After registering the case under section 302 IPC head constable Ram Singh reached the scene of occurrence. He prepared inquest report Ex. P/3, seized blood-stained earth vide Ex. P/5. A bag containing Kabja, Lahanga was also found lying near the dead body, which were also seized vide Ex. P/ 6. A blood-stained knife and a pair of shoes stained with blood were also found lying near the dead body, which were seized vide Ex. P/7 and Ex. P/8 respectively. The autopsy on the dead body was performed by PW 8 Dr. Bharat Singh on 2-4-1973. He found the following external injuries - 1. Incised wound 3"x 11/2" on the neck in front cutting the trachea on two portions. Maggots were present. 2. Incised wound on neck left side 21/2" x 1/2"x 2" just below the mandible superficial juglar vein divided into two parts. On opening of the body he noticed that trachea was divided into two portions just above the thyroid "cartilage and the left superficial juglar vein was divided into two parts. In the opinion of the doctor the cause of death was asphyxia due to cutting of trachea. The injuries were antemortem and were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. He further found that the injuries found on the body of the deceased could be caused by ordinary knife. The post-mortem report is Ex. P/12. Thereafter PW 16 Ramjiwan took charge of the case and arrested accused Hari Singh and Nihal Singh on the same day. Accused Manphool Singh was arrested on April 8, 1973. The clothes found on the person of Hari Singh at the time of his arrest were stained with blood. As such Bushshirt Art. 11 and pair of Trousers Art. 12 were seized and sealed by the police vide seizure memo Ex. P/13. Manphool Singh after his arrest expressed his desire to get the blood-stained clothes recovered from his house. The information was reduced into writing and has been marked as Ex. P/19. In consequence of this information accused Manphool Singh got a pair of trousers Art. 13 and one bush shirt Art. 14 recovered from his house. They were seized and sealed. The seizure memo is Ex P/20. On April 8, 1973 Nihal Singh also expressed his desire to get the blood stained clothes recovered from his house. The information was reduced in writing and has been marked as Ex. P/21. In consequence of that information a Pent Article 15 and a Bushshirt Art. 16 were got recovered. They were sealed and seized vide seizure memo Ex. P/22. On April 10, 1973 Nihal Singh expressed his desire to get the weapon of offence (knife) recovered from the place of its concealment lying near the scene of occurrence. The information was reduced into writing and has been marked as Ex. P/23. In consequence of this information the accused took the motbirs and the Sub-Inspector and brought out a knife Article 6 lying under the Jal tree. The seizure memo is Ex. P/24, Manphool Singh also expressed his desire to get the bottle of liquor recovered from the place where he has thrown it after drinking the liquor by the accused persons. The information was seduced into writing and has been marked as Ex. P/25. In consequence of this information after going at a distance of 30 to 35 pawandas from the place where the dead body was lying the accused pointed out the bottle Article 17. It was seized by the police vide Ex. P/26. At the time of recovery of the bottle the Sub-Inspector noticed certain finger prints over it. The specimen of ten digit finger prints of Hari Singh, Manphool Singh and Nihal Singh were taken and the same were sent along with the bottle to the Director, Finger Print Bureau at Jaipur. The expert after thorough examination found that the chance prints tallied with the finger prints of all the three accused. The report of the Director of Finger Print Bureau, Jaipur is Ex. P/27. The clothes recovered from the person of Hari Singh and recovered at the instance of the two other accused as well as knife Article 6 were sent to the Chemical Examiner and the Serologist for examination which were found to be positive for human blood by the Chemical Examiner and the Serologist. A test identification parade was held in which PW 19 Hanuman identified accused Hari Singh and Manphool Singh in relation to persons near the Jal tree in the company of the deceased. The third accused Nihal Singh could not be identified. The police after usual investigation submitted a challan in the Court of Munsif Magistrate, Chirawa. The learned Sessions Judge, Jhunjhunu on the above evidence convicted all the accused and sentenced them as mentioned above. Hence this appeal.;