The reliability of an eyewitness is paramount, and without corroboration, their testimony cannot solely sustain a conviction in criminal jurisprudence.

JUDGMENT :

AMITENDRA KISHORE PRASAD, J.

1. Since both the above-captioned appeals arise out of the same impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence, they are being heard together and disposed of by this common judgment.

2. In these appeals filed under Section 374(2) Cr.P.C. the appellants have challenged the legality, validity and propriety of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 22.08.2014 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, Mahasamund, C.G. in Sessions Trial No.92/2013, whereby and whereunder, the appellants stand convicted and sentenced as under:-

(All sentences were directed to run concurrently)

3. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 11.06.2013, at about 10:00 p.m., near the FCI Godown, Bagbahara, the accused persons, forming an unlawful assembly with the common object of causing grievous hurt to Avinash Pandey, assaulted him with sticks, inflicting severe injuries which later led to his death. In order to conceal the offence, the accused persons allegedly lodged false information at Police Station Bagbahara, claiming that Avinash had met with a road accident. It is alleged that, on the date of the incident, Avinash Pandey and Mukesh Sharma were returning from Bagbahara when they were intercepted near the FCI Godown by the accused persons, namely Vishwajeet Rai, Sunny Rai, Sontu, Ravi Chandrakar, Ravi Khare, Manish Soni, and two employees of Vishwa Dhaba. The accused persons allegedly assaulted Avinash with sticks, due to which, Avinash sustained grievous injuries over his body, while Mukesh managed to escape. On the same night, a Rojnamcha Sanha was made at the police station and injured- Avinash was sent for medical examination where PW-5 Dr. L.L. Dhankar examined him and gave his MLC report vide Ex.P-5. Later, injured-Avinash’s statement was recorded, on the basis of which, FIR (Ex.P-19) was registered against the accused persons.

4. During the course of investigation, a spot map (Ex.P-2) was prepared. Memorandum statements of accused- Tukesh alias Patwari and accused- Sunny Rai were recorded vide Exs. P-11 & 12, pursuant to which, two sticks made of Karra wood were recovered at their instance vide Exs. P-13 & P-14. Seized articles were sent to FSL for chemical examination and as per FSL report (Ex.P-33), no blood has been found on the seized wooden sticks marked as Articles ‘A & B’. During investigation, a white Maruti Alto car bearing registration No.CG-06E-0486 was also seized vide Ex. P-4. The statement of Mukesh Sharma, the companion and eye-witness to the incident was recorded before the Magistrate under Section 164 of the Cr.P.C. Further, in respect of the unnatural death of deceased- Avinash Pandey, a Merg Intimation (Ex.P-20) was recorded at Police Station Bagbahara and inquest proceedings were conducted vide Ex.P-3 and dead body of deceased was subjected to postmortem examination and PW-6 Dr. S.K. Bagh conducted the postmortem of the deceased and gave PM report vide Ex.P-7. According to him, cause of death of deceased was due to cardio-respiratory failure as a result of multiple injuries and their complications. After that, the statements of witnesses were recorded.

5. After due investigation, appellants were charge-sheeted before the jurisdictional cri