- (1.) THE appellants 1 to 4 were arrayed as A -4, A -1, A -2 and A -3 respectively before the trial Judge to face the charge of murder, on the allegation that at 7 p.m. on 9.5.1985 they, in furtherance of common intention of each other, caused the death of deceased Huro Hazra while Moti Hazra shot at him with pistol.
(2.) THE learned trial Judge, accepted the prosecution version, as evidenced by the witnesses and found the appellants guilty and sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life, and aggrieved by the said conviction and sentence, the present appeal is filed. The case of the prosecution as could be discerned from the oral and documentary evidence can be briefly summarized as follows : PW 1, Govind Hazra and the deceased Huro Hazra as well as Moti Hazra ' (appellant No. 1) and the other three appellants are the residents of the same village. At about 6.30 -7.00 p.m. on 9.5.1985 PW 3 and the deceased were proceeding in a cycle and when they were near a river, Huro Hazra, the deceased requested PW 3 to watch his cycle as he was to go to ease himself. The deceased was seen going towards a ditch by PW 1 who was sitting on a culvert. A few minutes thereafter, PW 1 and 3 heard gun shot and on hearing the sound, they rushed to the place. They found the appellants running away from the place. The deceased was conscious and was questioned by PW 1 and 3, In the meantime, PW 2 also reached the place. PW 1 and 3 were informed by the deceased that he was shot at by Moti Hazra, the 1st appellant. Immediately thereafter, PW 2 went to Saraiyahat police station and brought PW 10, the Sub -Inspector of Police to the scene of occurrence. On reaching the scene of occurrence and finding Huro Hazra conscious, PW 10 questioned him, whereupon he gave his fardbeyan which stands marked as Ext. 2. Thereafter Huro Hazra was sent, to the hospital and PW 2 accompanied him at Bhagalpur, where he was treated and later on died. After the death of Huro Hazra, the Investigating Officer proceeded to hospital for preparing inquest report. The same is Exhibited as Ext. 1/1 and the signature of PW 2 on the Inquest report is Ext. 1. After the inquest a written requisition was given to the doctor, requesting him to conduct autopsy on the dead body of Huro Hazra and the doctor found the following injuries : (i) Fire around wound of entry 1/4" x 2/3" x chest cavity on back of chest left side 4" left to midline below 12th thoracic rib. (ii) Stitched wound on midline abdomen anterior (surgical wound) 9" x minimum x abdominal cavity above umbilicus. (iii) Fire arm wound of exit 2 -1 /2" x 1" x abodominal cavity on left side of abdomen anteriorly. (iv) Stitch on arm for infusion on both sides. On dissection, heart contains blood both sides. Lungs and other viscera congested. Stomach contains greenish yellow fluid 3 ozs. Urinary bladdr empty. In color gas - -Stitches on intestine as anastomosia. Menengial and brain vessels congested. The projectile passed out of the body lacerating intestine and vessels left side back to front.
(3.) THE doctor issued Ext. 5, the postmortem report and in his opinion injury Nos. (i) and (iii) are sufficient, in the ordinary course of nature to cause death and the injuries could have been made with a country made pistol.;