- (1.) ALL the four criminal appeals, since arising out of the same judgment of conviction and order of sentence, were heard together and are being disposed of by the common judgment.
(2.) ALL the four appellants were put on trial along with one Santosh Yadav, in Sessions Trial No. 123 of 2005 on the charge of kidnapping Kamal Kumar Kedia (P.W.11) for the purpose of ransom in furtherance of their criminal conspiracy. The court, having found all of them, except Santosh Yadav, guilty, convicted them for the offence punishable under Sections 364A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code vide judgment dated 23.4.2007 and sentenced each of the appellant vide its order dated 24.04.2007 to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 20,000/ - for the offence under Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code and in default to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for one year. No separate sentence was passed under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. The case of the prosecution is that on 25.04.2005 at about 5 -6 A.M., Umkant Rana, the informant (P.W.1), Kamal Kumar Kedia, the victim (P.W.11), Satyanarain Kedia, father of the victim (P.W.1) and Ashok Jain (P.W.5), left home for morning walk and when they reached near Kedia Factory situated at Teliya village, they saw one Commander Jeep coming from the opposite direction. At that point of time, Kamal Kumar Kedia was walking along with Umakant Rana, whereas Ashok Jain (P.W.5) and Satyanarain Kedia (P.W.2) had proceeded 20 to 25 yards ahead. As soon as the Commander Jeep came near Kamal Kumar Kedia and Umakant Rana, 4 to 5 persons got down from the vehicle and made Kamal Kumar Kedia and Umakant Rana to sit forcibly on the Commander Jeep. The miscreants, got faces of both the persons covered. After taking them one kilometer away, they made Umakant Rana, the informant (P.W.1) to get down from the vehicle and proceeded ahead taking Kamal Kumar Kedia along with them. After going to some distance, they made Kamal Kumar Kedia to get down from the vehicle and started taking him on foot. When they reached to a hillock, they uncovered the face of Kamal Kumar Kedia and allowed him to take some rest. In the night, they left that place and brought him to another hillock. Thereafter, they took him to a mine and then to thatched house where the miscreants got a letter of ransom (Ext. 3) written by him. Meanwhile a telephonic call was made to the in -laws of Kamal Kumar Kedia by which they came to know that Kamal Kumar Kedia has been kidnapped for ransom. The father -in -law of Kamal Kumar Kedia informed about it to Pradeep Kumar Kedia (P.W.12), brother of Kamal Kumar Kedia and requested him to go and have negotiation with the miscreants. Pradeep Kumar Kedia (P.W.12) went to a place and had had talk with the miscreants whereby it was agreed that Rs. 6,00,000/ - would be paid. Thereupon, P.W.12 returned back and after managing the money, he along with P.W.10 -Mahesh Periwal went to give money to the miscreants. When they reached near a place Innerva, the miscreants by riding motorcycle, came and took away the money. After receiving the money, Kamal Kumar Kedia was let off by the miscreants.
(3.) MEANWHILE , S.I. Abhay Kumar Sinha (P.W.13), when received such information, came at Jai Durga Iron Factory where he recorded the fardbeyan (Ext. 4) of Umakant Rana (P.W.1). He narrated the said fact about kidnapping of Kamal Kumar Kedia, by some miscreants, when he as well as Satyanarain Kedia and Ashok Jain had gone to take morning walk. Upon it, a formal first information report (Ext. 5) was drawn against unknown.;