- (1.) THE appellants 1 and 2, Laskar Soren and Rameshwar Soren who were arrayed as A -1 and A -2 before the Additional Sessions Judge, Dumka, were found guilty under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and on being found guilty, each one of them was sentenced to imprisonment for life. Two other accused, Dharmu Hembram and Kalipada Murmu, who were also tried alongwith the above two appellants, were acquitted by the trial Judge. The present appeal is against the said conviction and sentence imposed upon the appellants.
(2.) THE facts are as follows: PW 7, Prayag Mandal, is the uncle of the deceased, Durga Mandal. PW 3 Arjun Mandal is the brother of the deceased, Durga Mandal. The appellants and the deceased as well as the witnesses were residing at village Nildaha in the district of Dumka. Five days prior to the date of occurrence, an altercation took place between the deceased Durga Mandal and appellant No. 2 Rameshwar Soren on account of the deceased refusing to sell the grocery items on credit to appellant no. 2. It is the further case of the prosecution that the deceased had given evidence in a Court of Law against appellant No. 1 Laskar Soren and, therefore, both the appellants were aggrieved against the deceased Durga Mandal. This is said to be the motive of the occurrence. On 21.11.1984 at about 2.30 P.M. PW 7 Prayag Mandal was at his field supervising the agricultural operation as the paddy harvesting was going on. He heard the distressing cries of the deceased Durga Mandal. He went to the place and found the appellants there. Appellant No. 1 was armed with Tangi and appellant No. 2 was having iron rod in his hand. PW 3 was also present at that place. PW 7 saw the appellants inflicting injuries on the deceased. The deceased Durga Mandal fell down and died instantaneously. The appellants, thereafter, ran away from the place taking alongwith them the cycle of the deceased Durga Mandal. Two other persons who could not be identified by any of the witnesses, were also present alongwith the two appellants. The fardbeyan (Ext. 2/4) was given at the police station at 2.30 pm on 22.11.1984. The investigation in the crime was taken up. PW 8, the Investigating Officer, conducted inquest over the dead body. The inquest report and the signatures on the said inquest report, stand marked as Exts. 2, 2/1 and 2/2 respectively. After the inquest, the body was dispatched to the hospital requesting the doctor to conduct autopsy. On receipt of the requisition and the dead body, the Medicai Officer (PW 4) attached to the hospital, conducted autopsy and he found the following injuries: (i) Bruise on the abdomen left side 5" x 11/2" with oedema, (ii) Bruise on the left forearm 3" x 2" with oedema, (iii) Oedema on the neck 21/2" x 1", (iv) Lacerated wound on the scalp left side in front 11/2" x 11/2" x11/2 ", (v) Lacerated wound on the scalp left side behind no.(iv) 1" x 1/2" x1/2", (vi) Lacerated wound on the scalp behind no.(v) 3" x 1/2" x 1/2", (vii) Incised wound on the left nostril 1/2", (viii) Lacerated wound on the left cheek at two places 1" x 1/4" x 1/4" x 1/2" x 1/8" x. 1/8", (ix) Oedema with congestion left temple, (x) Lacerated wound upper left under the nose 1/2" x 1/2 " x 1/2 ", (xi) Lacerated wound left ear 1" x 1/2" x 1/2". The doctor issued (Ext. 1), the postmortem certificate, with his opinion that death is on account of the injuries and the said injuries could have been caused by blunt substance as well as by sharp cutting weapon.
(3.) AFTER completion of the investigation, the final report was submitted by the Police Officer against the four accused persons.;