Judgment

DUTT, J. :- These appeals are directed against the judgment of the Patna High Court affirming the order of the First Additional Sessions Judge, Arrah, convicting all the appellants under Ss. 302/34, IPC and S. 27of the Arms Act and sentencing each of them to rigorous imprisonment for life and rigorous imprisonment for three years respectively and further convicting the appellant Hare Krishna Singh under S. 379 IPC and sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment for three years; all the sentences are to run concurrently. The accused included two persons having the same name Paras Singh, one of Village Dhobaha, brother-in-law of Hare Krishna Singh, one of the appellants in Criminal Appeal No. 690 of 1982, and the other of Village Birampur and nephew of Jagdish Singh, the appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 616 of 1982. We shall hereinafter refer to the said two persons as Paras Singh of Dhobaha and Paras Singh of Birampur respectively.

2. The prosecution case as appearing from the Fardbeyan or the FIR lodged by one Sarabjit Tiwary(P.W. 3), a social worker, on 12-12-1987 in the Arrah Sadar Police Station, was that on that day at about 7.00 a.m. he was going to his brother-in-law Raghubir Mishra and just he reached near the main gate of the Sadar Hospital, he saw seven persons, namely "(1) Hare Krishna Singh, resident of Dhanpura; (2) Sheo Narain Sharma, resident of Berkhembe Gali; (3 ) Ram Kumar Upadhaya, resident of village Dumaria; (4) Jagdish Singhs nephew of Birampur in military service; (5) brother-in-law of Hare Krishna Singh of Dhobabha in military service" and two more persons whom he could not indentify. All the said persons were armed with rifle, gun and pistol, and were standing near northern side of the eastern gate of the hospital. At that time, two Rickshaws were coming from the eastern side. In the front Rickshaw, Jitendra Choudhary and another person named Lallan Rai, resident of village Maniya, were sitting and in the rear Rickshaw there were two girls. As the Rickshaw of Jitendra Choudhary came near the persons mentioned. above, all of a sudden, Hare Krishna Singh fired at Jitendra Choudhary from his gun, whereupon the latter fell down from the Rickshaw with the rifle which he was carrying with him. The other persons also fired upon Jitendra Choudhary along with Hare Krishna Singh. as a result of which he died. After that Hare Krishna Singh picked up the rifle of Jitendra Choudhary and touching his body said, "He is dead, let us take to our heels." It may be mentioned here that the two girls referred to in the Fardbeyan or FIR are Premlata Choudhary (P.W. 1) and Sobha Choudhary (P.W. 2), sisters of the deceased Jitendra Choudhary.

3. After investigation by P.W. 9 the charge-sheet was submitted against all the appellants and they were put up for trial. The prosecution examined as many as 9 witnesses, of whom P.Ws. 1, 2, 3 and 8 were eyewitnesses. The defence of Hare Krishna Singh was that he was going to Patna along with the appellant Ram Kumar Upadhya and one Madan Singh in a Rickshaw and when the Rickshaw reached near the shop of Sita Ram, he received a bullet from behind and fell down. He looked back and saw that one Dipu Prasad and Ram Lal were firing. He also saw the deceased Jitendra Choudhary, Chhatu Choudhary and Lallan Rai (P.W. 8) firing from the eastern gate of the hospital. He examined five witnesses, D.Ws. 1 to 5, to prove the nature of injury sustained by him.

4. The defence of Paras Singh of Dhobaha was that he had not visited the village Dhanpura for the last fifteen years. The defence of other appellants is also a denial of their complicity in the crime.

5. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, after an elaborate discussion and analysis of the evidence adduced on behalf of the parties, accepted the prosecution case and convicted and sentenced the appellants as mentioned above. Regarding the injury sustained by Hare Krishna Singh, the learned Additional Sessions Judge was of the view that such inju