Ram Surat Singh Yadav and Another vs State of Bihar

During the night between 15th/16th January, 1978 at about 2 a.m. six persons, namely, Hira Koiri, Ramadhar Koiri, Bharat Koiri, Gudri Koiri, Guput Koiri and Ramji Koiri were killed in village Panchagawan, Police Station Bhabhua, District Rohtas. Bharat and Gudri Koiri were found to have been killed at the baithak of Tulsi Koiri (P.W.1), Hira Koiri and Guput Koiri in the baithak of Ramadhar Koiri, while Ramadhar Koiri himself in the baithak of Pragas Koiri Ramji Koiri was killed in the lane. 16 accused persons were tried for the said murders under Sections 302/ 34, 302/ 149, 460/ 34, 147 and 148 IPC. Some of the accused were also tried for offences u/s 27 of the Arms Act. They were all convicted and sentenced by the trial court for the said offences. Their appeals against conviction and sentence failed in the High Court on 11.8.1987. 14 out of the 16 convicts have preferred these four appeals by special leave which are being disposed of by this common judgment. We are informed at the bar that during the pendency of the appeals in this Court, Dhaneshwar Singh Yadav, Nand Lal Singh Yadav, Sanehi Singh Yadav and Hari Narain Singh Yadav have died. The appeals of these Appellants have, therefore, abated. Out of the 16 convicts, Kashi Singh Yadav and Kanhaiya Singh Yadav have not preferred any appeals in this Court.

According to the prosecution case, during the night intervening 15th/16th January, 1978, in village Panchagawan, P.W. 6 alongwith three deceased, namely, Ramadhar Singh, Guput Singh and Hira Singh, PW5 and some children was sleeping in the baithak of deceased Ramadhar Singh. On hearing the sound of a gun fire, PW 6 woke up at about 2 a.m. and saw a light in the lane. He told those sleeping by his side that thieves had come and that they should be alert. P.W. 6 peeped through the door and saw some of the Appellants, namely, Ramsurat Singh, Jawahar Singh, Nathuni Singh and Rajgrihi Singh armed with guns. Ramdas Singh, Nand Lal Singh and Sheopujan Singh armed with bhalas and lathis and Kashl Singh, (unarmed) in the torch light. The aforesaid Appellants were trying to break open the door and when the same got unhinged the Appellants secured their entry inside the room. The informant ran for his life from the other side. He looked back and found Hira Koiri being assaulted. The informant ran away scaling the western wall of the house and got down in the court yard of his house. He woke up his father Lalji Singh and narrated to him all that he had seen. Thereafter, he went to Siwana and when he returned in the morning, he found dead bodies of six deceased persons at different places in the village. ASI Geeta Prasad Singh P.W. 13 who was present in an adjoining village came to know about the occurrence and rushed to village Panchagawan. None of the male members belonging either to Koiri community or the Yadav community were found present in the village despite search. Some of the ladies belonging to Koiri community were, however, found present and were weeping. They were in a state of shock and sorrow. They all appeared to be scared. They could not give any clues when P.W. 13 sought information from them and they regained stunned. P.W. 13 sent information tothe police station, through chowkidar and started preparing the inquest reports of the dead bodies. After preparation of the Inquest report, when he was making arrangements for sending the dead bodies for post mortem examination, the informant P.W. 6 arrived at the spot. He gave his statement to P.W. 13, which forms the basis of the formal FIR Ex. 6. The statement was sent to the police station and senior police officials arrived at the spot. The investigation of the case was thereafter entrusted to P.W. 15 Inspector B.N. Singh. After P.W. 15 took over the investigation he recorded the statements of the witnesses, affected recoveries, conducted the spot inspection and upon completion of the investigation sent up the accused for trial.

The prosecution, with a view to connect the accused persons with the crime, examined 16 witnesses. P.ws. 1 to P.W. 7 and P.W. 14 were examined as the eyewitnesses. P. Ws. 8, 9, 10 and 12 who were also stated to be eye-witnesses of the occurrence, were, however, only tendered for cross-examination and they did not make any deposition at the trial. Post mortem on all the dead bodies was conducted by Dr. Sukumar Mitra, P.W. 11, who appeared at the trial and proved the post mortem reports of the six deceased. P.W. 13 who had recorded the statement of P.W. 6 which formed the basis of the FIR and had also prepared the Inquest reports deposed about the investigation carried out by him while P.W. 15 appeared and deposed about various stages of investigation carried out by him. The accused, in their statements recorded u/s 313 Code of Criminal Procedure denied the prosecution allegations against them and plead false implication.

The trial court did not rely upon the evidence of P.W. 6. It also found that a part of the statement of P.W. 4 Moti Rani, was also not believable. The trial court, however, relied upon the other prosecution evidence to find the accused guilty and convicted and sentenced them accordingly. The High Court in appeal, after a critical analysis of the evidence on the record also did not place any reliance upon the statement of P.W. 6 in so far as the substratum of the prosecution case as deposed to by him is concerned but found that the trial court had committed an error in not relying upon the entire statement of P.W. 4. The High Court found that the eyewitnesses account given by P.Ws. 1 to 5 and P.W. 7 was reliable and trustworthy and suffered from no infirmity. The High Court also found that P.W. 14 had named and Identified all the accused persons and had offered ample corroboration to the evidence of the other eyewitnesses. Corroboration of the ocular testimony was also found to be available from the medical evidence and the expert opinion of the ballistic expert. The High Court consequently dismissed all the four appeals and maintained the conviction and sentence of the accused.

We have heard learned Counsel for the parties. Mr. Shiv Pujan Singh, advocate has addressed arguments on behalf of Ramsurat Singh Yadav and Jawahar Singh Yaday. Appellants in Criminal Appeal Nos. 190-191/94 while Mr. Jha has addressed arguments on behalf of the surviving Appellants in Crl. Appeal Nos. 319-320/89.

The submission of Mr. Shiv Pujan Singh that the evidence furnished by P.Ws., 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to connect the Appellants with the crime relating to the murder of Hira Koiri, Guput Koiri and Ramadhar Koiri is neither cogent nor sufficient, does not appeal to us. The discrepancies pointed out by the learned Counsel in the evidence of these witnesses are absolutely minor and of no consequence. These discrepancies had also been brought to the notice of the trial court and the High Court and both the courts after a careful appraisal of the evidence of these witnesses found that the account given by the eye-witnesses was cogent, reliable and trustworthy. Their evidence has received corroboration from the statement of P.W. 14 also. We are satisfied with the manner in which the trial court and the High Court have appreciated the evidence on the record, it is also relevant to note that P.W. 3, P.W. 5 and P.W. 7 are brothers. They are the sons of Ramadhar Koiri deceased. P.W. 3 and P.W. 5 were sleeping in the baithak of Ramadhar and are therefore natural witnesses. Despite the lengthy cross examination of P.W. 5, to which our attention was drawn by learned Counsel, nothing has been pointed out, which may in any way cast any doubt on the correctness of the version given by the witness. All the eye-witnesses have stood the test of cross-examination well and their evidence has received ample corroboration from the medical evidence, recoveries and the report of the ballistic expert. The prosecution, in our opinion, has successfully brought home the guilt of these Appellants and their conviction and sentence, as recorded by the trial court and confirmed by the High Court suffers from no infirmity whatsoever.

So far as Criminal Appeal Nos. 319-320/89 are concerned, according to Mr. Jha, the evidence on the record does not connect the Appellants with the crime. We find no basis for the said submission. However, faced with the over-whelming prosecution evidence, Mr. Jha submitted that so far as Baleshwar Singh (Appellant No. 3) and Shribans Singh (Appellant No. 12) are concerned, the evidence on the record is not sufficient to connect them with the crime. We are not persuaded to agree with the learned Counsel on this aspect either. The complicity of Baleshwar Singh (Appellant No. 3) in the murder of Bharat Koiri and Gudri Koiri stands amply established on trite record from the evidence of the eyewitnesses and similarly the complicity of Shribans Singh Yadav for the murder of Ramji Koiri has also been, amply proved on the record. The evidence led by the prosecution is cogent, trustworthy and reliable. It inspires confidence. Both the courts rightly relied upon the eye-witnesses account furnished by the eyewitnesses, other than P.W. 6, and in cur opinion, the trial court and the High Court committed no error in accepting, the evidence on the record and recording the conviction of the Appellants for the six murders of persons belonging to Koiri community because of community faction between Yadav's and Koiri's.

Thus, in view of the above discussion, we find that all the four appeals have no merit. The same fail and are hereby dismissed. Dhaneshwar Singh Yadav and Sanehi Singh Yadav had been admitted to bail by an order of this Court dated 11.1.1990. Since it is reported that they had died, their bail bonds are cancelled.