JUDGMENT :

1. Heard Mr. H.R.A. Choudhury, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. A. Ahmed, learned counsel for the accused-petitioners and Mr. B. Sharma, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent State of Assam.

2. By this application under Section 439, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC], the accused-petitioners viz. [1] Saiful Islam, [2] Injamamul Khan @ Injamul Khan, [3] Badshah Fakir, and [4] Faridul Islam have prayed for their release on bail in connection with Sessions Case no. 160/2022, presently pending before the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge [FTC], Barpeta, Assam [‘the trial court’, for short]. The case, Sessions Case no. 160/2022 has arisen out of Tarabari Police Station Case no. 34/2022, which was registered for offences under Sections 120B/325/385/302, Indian Penal Code [IPC].

3. The First Information Report [FIR] in connection with Tarabari Police Station Case no. 34/2022 was lodged by one Faizur Rahman [the informant] on 17.04.2022 wherein he named 8 [eight] persons including the present four accused-petitioners, as accused. The informant stated that his cousin brother, Rubul Hoque Choudhury [the deceased] and one Ramela Khatun were having a love affair. At around 12/12-30 noon on 16.04.2022, the two of them were at the bank of the river Brahmaputra near Bandali Reserve Forest. As they were conversing, the accused persons arrived the place and by apprehending both of them, the accused persons physically assaulted them. The accused persons thereafter, sent the girl back to her house but kept Rubul Hoque Choudhury with them on the pretext of holding Bichar. They had demanded money from Rubul Hoque Choudhury and when he could not pay the demanded amount, Rubul Hoque Choudhury was assaulted to death and his dead body was thrown in the river Brahmaputra. The informant stated to have come to learn about the incident from Ramela Khatun. The informant had mentioned that apart from the named accused persons, other accused persons were also involved.

4. On receipt of the FIR, the Officer In-charge, Tarabari Police Station registered the FIR as Tarabari Police Station Case no. 34/2022 under Sections 120B/325/385/302, IPC on 17.04.2022. The 4 [four] accused-petitioners along with two other named accused persons, were arrested during the course of investigation and they were produced before the Court of learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Barpeta on 19.04.2022. On being so produced, the accused-petitioners were remanded to custody and since 19.04.2022, all the accused-petitioners are in custody.

5. The Investigating Officer [I.O.] of the case after completing investigation in connection with Tarabari Police Station Case no. 34/2022, submitted a charge sheet under Section 173[2], CrPC vide Charge Sheet no. 36/2022 dated 15.07.2022 finding a prima facie case for commission of offences under Sections 120B/385/323/354/302, IPC against 6 [six] nos. of accused persons including the present 4 [four] accused-petitioners. The other two charge sheeted accused persons are [1] Darog Ali @ Jakir Ali and [2] Lal Mamud Khan @ Mamud. At the time of submission of the charge sheet, all the 6 [six] charge sheeted accused persons were in judicial custody. In the charge sheet, the I.O. of the case enlisted 33 [thirty three] nos. of persons as prosecution witnesses [PWs]. Included amongst them are [1] Amirul Islam at serial no. 7 and [2] Joinal Miya at serial no. 8, who earlier were amongst the 8 [eight] nos. of accused persons named by the informant in the FIR.

6. On submission of the charge sheet, the case stood committed to the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Barpeta. On being so committed, the case has been registered as Sessions Case no. 160/2022. The case was thereafter transferred to the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge [FTC], Barpeta [the trial Court] for disposal. On 25.07.2022, the charge sheeted accused persons were produced from judicial custody and after hearing the learned Additional Publi