Since all the aforesaid Criminal appeals arise out of the common judgment of conviction and order of sentence as such, they have been heard together and are being disposed of, by a common judgment.

2. These criminal appeals are directed against the judgment of conviction dated 22.11.2003 and order of sentence dated 25.11.2003 passed in Sessions Trial Case No. 29 of 2002/06 of 2002 by learned 2nd Addl. Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Jamtara, whereby, the appellants have been convicted under Section 364A/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life besides a fine of Rs.2,000/- each but, no separate sentence has been passed under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

3. The case of the prosecution is that on the basis of the written report given to the Officer-in-Charge, Jamtara, by the informant (Bhukri Devi), who happens to be the mother of the victim (Bhudeo Mandal), alleging therein that in the morning of 22.07.2001, accused Rajen Mandal, Ganga Sagar Mandal, Shibu Mandal and Kishan Mandal enticed away deceased-Bhudeo Mandal from his house to 'Karmatar' and thereupon they started demanding Rs.20,000/- illegally which was refused by the informant and her son, as a result of which, these accused kept confined Bhudeo Mandal with a view to kill him. The informant tried to search his son Bhudeo Mandal but failed to find him and then she gave a written application to the Officer-In-Charge, Jamtara on 27.07.2001 in the morning with an earnest request to get her son released from the wrongful confinement of the said persons and to legal action against them, otherwise, his son will be killed by the accused persons.

4. On the basis of the aforesaid 'Fardbeyan given by the informant, Jamtara P.S. Case No.157 of 2001 was registered for the offence under Section 364A and 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, against the accused persons.

5. The police started investigation. The dead body of the deceased was recovered on 27.07.2001 at platform no. 1 of Gorakhpur railway station. The dead body of the deceased was sent for postmortem examination which was conducted by Dr. H. R. Yadav – P.W.14.

6. After obtaining the postmortem report and examining the witnesses, the police ultimately filed charge-sheet as against the present appellants under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code and thereafter the case was committed to the Court of Sessions.

The plea of the defence is completely denial of the allegation.

7. The prosecution has examined as many as 15 witnesses including Medical Officer and Investigating Officer, and one court witness has also been examined who is Gopalji Jha.

8. Mr. B.M. Tripathi, learned Senior counsel appearing for the appellants submitted that the trial court has convicted these appellants under Section 364A/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/- by each convicts with the finding that there are overwhelming oral direct unimpeachable evidence and further held that the deceased was lastly seen with the accused person on 22.07.2001. Learned Senior counsel for the appellants has challenged the judgment and order of conviction and sentence on the following grounds:

(i) The prosecution has not been able to prove the ingredients of Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code and there is no material to prosecute the present appellants under other sections. There is no evidence that threat was given by the accused persons and in fact, it was a case of enmity between the parties, inasmuch as the parties belonged to the same village.

(ii) There is no chain of events for convicting the present appellants under Section 364A or Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

(iii) There was four days time gap, when the accused and deceased were last seen alive and when the deceased was found dead on Gorakhpur Chawani Railway Station Platform, and thus, it would be hazardous to com