JUDGMENT

Sandeep Mehta, J. - REPORTABLE

1. These five criminal appeals under Section 374 (2) CrPC are directed against the judgment dated 14.10.2016 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Bheenmal, District Jalore in Sessions Case No. 22/2011 (C.I.S. No. 162/2014), whereby the appellants herein were convicted and sentenced as below:-

All the substantive sentences were ordered to run concurrently. All the appeals are directed against a common judgment, thus, the same have been heard and are being decided together.

2. Brief facts relevant and essential for disposal of the criminal appeals are noted hereinbelow. Dinesh Kumar (P.W. 1) submitted a written report (Ex. P/1) to the SHO, Police Station Sanchor, District Jalore on 17.09.2008 at 10.00 a.m. at the place of incident alleging inter alia that his uncle Chunnilal S/o Malaji used to reside alone at his home which is situated on the main road, Subhash Chowk, Sanchore. Ishwarpuri was employed as a servant to serve him. Chunnilal's wife had died and he had adopted Sachin Jain, who used to reside in Mumbai with his family. Chunnilal was a pawn broker, who used to advance loans to people by pledging their ornaments. On 16.09.2008 at 11.00-11.30 p.m., the complainant, alongwith Tejraj Chhogaji, Devaram Khatri and few others, was sitting in the vicinity of Chunnilal's house talking to each other. At that time, they saw Ishwargiri and his cousin Kailash S/o Aasnath Swami and four other persons standing and talking to each other. A Maruti Car No. GJ-2-R7802 was parked nearby. The complainant and his companions went to their respective homes to sleep. In the next morning at about 09.00 a.m., the complainant went to the house of his uncle Chunnilal and observed that the door was locked from outside. He and Tejraj knocked the door, but they failed to get any response from inside. The servant Ishwarpuri was missing. They got alarmed and thus, scaled the wall of the neighbor's house and peeped into the house of Chunnilal and saw him lying on a cot in the open courtyard. They informed the police and forced opened the door of the house. The dead body of his uncle was lying sans Dhoti. Marks of strangulation were visible on his neck. Various articles were lying strewn around in the room. The door of the basement, where his uncle used to keep the precious articles and ornaments secured in a locker, was open and it was seen that the locker had also been broken open and was lying empty. It was speculated that Ishwargiri, the servant of Chunnilal, alongwith his unknown companions had killed Shri Chunnilal in order to loot the valuables. The complainant mentioned that the list of stolen articles would be provided after arrival of Sachin, the adopted son of Shri Chunnilal. The complainant also claimed that he could identify the assailants.

3. On the basis of the report aforestated, an FIR No. 277/2008 (Ex. P/2) came to be registered at the Police Station Sanchore for the offences under Sections 460, 396 and 302/34 IPC and investigation was commenced. The accused appellants were arrested. It is alleged that silver articles used by Shri Chunnilal for worship were recovered during personal search of each accused. Further recoveries were effected acting on the informations provided by the accused to the Investigating Officer under Section 27 of the Evidence Act. After concluding the investigation, a charge-sheet came to be filed against the accused appellants Kalyanpuri, Ghewaram, Shankarlal, Ashok Kumar and Kailashnath for the offences under Sections 460, 396, 302/149 and against accused appellant Ishwarpuri for the offences under Section 460, 396 and 302 read with Section 120-B IPC in the court of Judicial Magistrate, Sanchore. As the offences were Sessions triable, the case was committed to the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Bhinmal for trial.

4. The trial court framed charges against all the accused appellants for the offences under Sections 460, 396 and 120-B IPC. All the accused