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2015 Supreme(Pat) 1198
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
DHARNIDHAR JHA and AHSANUDDIN AMANULLAH, JJ.
Manoj Rai – Appellant
Versus
The State of Bihar – Respondent
Criminal Appeal (DB) No.604, 605 of 2010
Decided on : 21-08-2015
For the Appellant :Shri Rama Kant Sharma, Sr. Advocate, Shri Laxmi Kant Sharma, Advocate, Shri Prem Shankar Kumar, Advocate, Shri Akhileshwar Prasad Singh, Sr. Advocate, Shri Prabhat Kumar Singh, Advocate, Shri Binod Kumar Pandey, Advocate, Shri Abhishek Anand, Advocate, Shri Surya Swetabh, Advocate.
For the State : Shri Dilip Kumar Sinha, Susri Shashi Bala Verma, APP.
The judgment establishes that evidence of identification, recovery of looted items, and the trail of chase can be sufficient to prove charges even without a formal identification parade.
Headnote:
Dacoity - Indian Penal Code - Section 396 - The judgment discusses the commission of dacoity in a bank, the chase and arrest of the criminals, and the evidence against the appellants. The court found the charges proved based on identification by witnesses, recovery of looted cash and weapons, and the trail of chase.
Fact of the Case:
The case involved a dacoity in a bank where criminals looted cash and shot the bank guard, leading to a chase and arrest of the criminals by the public and police.
Finding of the Court:
The court found the appellants guilty of dacoity under Section 396 of the Indian Penal Code based on evidence of identification, recovery of looted cash and weapons, and the trail of chase.
Issues: Identification of the appellants, recovery of looted cash and weapons, and the trail of chase were the key issues in the case.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the evidence of identification by witnesses, recovery of looted cash and weapons, and the trail of chase provided ample proof of the charges against the appellants.
Final Decision: The appeals were dismissed, and the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the trial court were upheld.
DHARNIDHAR JHA, J.
Jai Prakash (PW 18) was the Assistant, Accounts & Cash, State Bank of India, Branch-Chousa in the district of Buxar. He was working on the cash counter of the bank and was badly engaged in transaction of bank business on 09.05.2008 from about 09.30 A.M. He was was both remitting cash to the customers and at the same time was receiving deposits. It was the pick banking hours at about 01.30 P.M. when a criminal pointing his pistol at PW 18 Jai Prakash asked him to open the door of the cash counter. The other criminal was also pointing his pistol at him and was standing by the side of his companion. The informant PW 18 opened the door and a criminal having a pistol, came inside and pushed PW 18 and asked him to open the cash box and by giving a slinging bag of black colour asked him to stuff the same with currency notes. The informant stated that he readily did what he was asked to do after picking up the cash from cash box as also from the drawer. The criminal asked him to chain the bag but that could not be done because of the full stuffing of the bag with currency notes. The criminal snatched the bag from the hand of PW 18 and in that course a bundle of currency notes fell on the ground which PW 18 was asked to hand over to the criminal and on being given the bundle of notes, the criminal put it into his pocket and some of the currency bundles was stuffed by him into his shirt and pant pocket.
2. The criminal thereafter put the pistol on PW 18 and asked him to go out with him. When PW 18 and the criminal had come at the door of the cash room, the criminal picked up the Samsung silver mobile phone set from the pocket of PW 18 carrying SIM Card No. 9835658800 and by asking the informant to face the wall, he himself opened the door and came out of it.
3. While the criminal was exiting, a shot was heard fired at the main entry of the bank and there was a huge commotion there. Subsequently another shot was fired and the informant ran out of the bank by raising alarms which attracted the Branch Manager of the bank, namely, Ajit Kumar Poddar (PW 3) and other employees of the bank who came out and they were all told by PW 18 that the bank had been looted by criminals and PW 18 also saw that the bank guard Nand Kumar Singh was moaning there and was bleeding from his chest. He had put his hand over his chest from where he was bleeding. People standing there pointed out to PW 18 that the criminal had shot and injured the bank guard Nand Kumar Singh. The Manager along with the employees of the bank told the mob of people about the incident who started chasing the criminals. At the same time, the Branch Manager Ajit Kumar Poddar (PW 3) put the injured bank guard on a jeep to take him to Buxar hospital where he died subsequently.
4. During the chase by the general people, six criminals were lynched out of which four died on the spot and two were arrested in injured condition who were these two appellants of the two appeals, namely, Manoj Rai and Pappu Giri. While being chased, the criminals had started throwing currency notes on the road so as to alluring the mob away from them who were chasing them. But, in spite of that the people had succeeded in
catching the dacoits. Currency notes which were thrown on the road were collected and seized by preparing seizure memo. At the same time, the two appellants were also found on search of their respective persons, carrying a pistol made in Italy with cartridges which was seized from appellant Manoj Rai while appellant Pappu Giri was carrying a country made pistol with cartridges.
It was initially stated in the written report (Ext.4) that the total looted amount from the bank was Rs. 3,17,100/- as per description given in it.
5. PW -26 S.I. Amarnath Jha who was the Officer-in- Charge of Buxar Muffasil police station had arrived at the bank with officers and Constables Jagdish Singh (PW -34), Dilip Kumar Singh (PW -35), Binod Kumar Singh (PW -36), Arvind Kumar Manjhi (PW -37) a
