JUDGMENT :

(Rai Chattopadhyay, J.)

1. Gruesome murder of the person, namely, Saurav Chowdury @ Ghantu, had resulted into lodging of the FIR dated 05.7.20014, in Dattapukur Police Station, having been registered as Dattapukur Police Station case No. 528/14 dated 05.7.2014, under sections 364, 302, 201 and 120B of the IPC. Allegations were made in the said FIR against the following persons:

i) “Shyamal Karmakar”;

ii) “Anup Talukder”;

iii) “LitonTalukder”and

iv) Four or five other persons.

2. After completion of investigation, charge sheet was submitted against the following 13 (thirteen) persons, all of whom faced trial:

i) Somnath Sardar,

ii) Rakesh Barman @ Chhote,

iii) Tapash Biswas,

iv) Ratan Samadder,

v) Suman Sarkar,

vi) Suman Das @ Bhuban,

vii) Ratan Das @ Tofa,

viii) Tarak Das,

ix) Amal barui @ Kuche,

x) Shyamal Karmakar,

xi) Arup Talukder,

xii) Sisir Kumar Mukherjee,

xiii) Poly Maity.

3. The instant appeal has been preferred by one of such accused persons, who faced trial namely, Rakesh Barman @ Chhote. Additional Sessions Judge 7th Court at Barasat 24pgns(North), delivered judgment and order of conviction dated 15.4.2016, 16.4.2016 and 19.4.2016, respectively, in which, so far as the present appellant is concerned, the Court found his guilt and convicted him under section 302, read with section 34 of the IPC. The appellant was sentenced to suffer “rigorous imprisonment for life with fine of Rs.20,000/-and in default of payment of fine, rigorous imprisonment for a further period of two years”, for the said offence.

4. The said judgment and order of conviction dated 15.4.2016, 16.4.2016 and 19.4.2016, respectively, passed in Sessions trial No. 02(09)/2014, is under challenge, in this appeal. This appeal is only with respect to the appellant/convict namely, Rakesh Barman @ Chhote. Since none represented the appellant in this case, the Court appointed Mr. Mrityunjay Chatterjee, Advocate, as the Amicus Curiae, to assist the Court to dispose of the appeal. The Court expresses satisfaction and appreciation for the able assistance extended by Ld. Amicus Curiae.

5. Before entering into the merits of this case, it is necessary that the trail of events, after delivery of judgment by the trial court as mentioned above, be discussed in a nutshell. One FIR named accused person, namely, Uttam Sikari, became “approver” in this case. He was granted pardon in terms of section 307 of the CRPC and was tried separately. Another accused person namely, Anup Talukder @ Arup was acquitted by the court. Thus, from amongst the total 14 accused persons named in the chargesheet amongst whom the 13 persons who were made to stand for trial, the Court awarded death penalty to 8 of them, namely,(i) Shyamal Karmakar, (ii) Suman Sarkar, (iii) Suman Das @ Bhuban, (iv) Amal Barui @ Kuche, (v) Tarak Das, (vi) Somnath Sardar, (vii) Ratan Samaddar, (viii) Tapas Biswas. 3 of them namely, (i) Poly Maity, (ii) Ratan Das @ Tota @ Tofa, (iii) Sisir Kumar Mukhopadhyay @ Sanku Mukhopadhyay, were granted sentence of rigorous imprisonment for 5 years and fine. The present appellant was awarded sentence of rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs.20,000/-, for the offence under section 302 read with section 34 of the IPC. The death reference and the appeals preferred by the other accused persons, excepting the present appellant, were heard together by this court and disposed of by a common judgment dated 9.02.2018. This Court converted death sentence for all the concerned convicts, in the following manner:

(i) Shyamal Karmakar: death sentence was converted to a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for a period not less than 30 years;

(ii) Suman Sarkar : death sentence was converted to a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for life;

(iii) Tarak Das : death sentence was converted to a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for life;

(iv) Somnath Sardar : death sentence was converted to a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for life;

(v) Ratan Samaddar : death sentence was converted to a sente