The central legal point established in the judgment is the reliance on credible eyewitness testimony, corroboration of evidence, and the application of the principle of reasonable doubt in reaching the decision.

Prafulla C. Pant, J (Oral) :-

This appeal, preferred under Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Pro­cedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred as Cr.P.C.) is directed against the judgment and order dated 18.03.1996, passed by III Addl. Sessions Judge, Nainital, in Ses­sions trial No. 117 of 1993, whereby ac­cused/appellant Prakash is convicted un­der Section 302 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred as I.P.C.) in Sessions Trial No. 117 of 1993, and sen­tenced to imprisonment for life. He is fur­ther convicted under Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 (in Sessions Trial No. 115 of 1993), and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. Other three accused/appellants, namely Channi (since deceased), Tilak Ram and Shauraj (since deceased) have been con­victed under Section 302 read with Sec­tion 34 of I.P.C., and each one of them has been sentenced to imprisonment for life. During the pendency of this appeal, accused/appellants Channi and Shauraj have died, and appeal filed on their be­half stands abated.

2. Heard learned counsel for the par­ties and perused the lower court record.

3. Prosecution story, in brief, is that on 16.07.1992, at about 12:15 P.M., P.W. 4 Jogendra Singh (complainant) along with his brother Harpal (deceased), Shankar and P.W. 1 Gurmukh Singh was going on a tractor from village Mehtavan to Kundeshwari market. P.W. 1 Gurmukh Singh got the tractor parked near the shop of P.W. 2 Satbir Singh, and started getting some repair work done in the tractor. Meanwhile, the above named persons sat in a nearby shop of Shivcharan. Suddenly, accused/appel­lant Prakash along with accused/appel­lants Channi, Tilak Ram and Shauraj came there. They caught hold of Harpal. Accused/appellant Prakash fired a shot from a country made pistol on the head of Harpal. Tilak Ram also fired at him. Injured Harpal died on the spot. When P.W. 4 Jogendra Singh and others shouted for help, the accused/appellants ran away towards Kundeshwari. P.W. 4 Jogendra Singh thereafter got lodged F.I.R. (Ext. A -1) with police outpost Kundeshwari, P.S. Kashipur, District Nainital (now part of district Udham Singh Nagar). On the basis of said report, a check report (Ext. A -3) was prepared at 14:05 P.M. on the very day i.e. 16.07.1992, registering Crime No. 587 of 1992, against accused/appellants Prakash, Channi, Tilak Ram and Shauraj, relating to offence punishable under Sec­tion 302 of I.P.C. Investigation was taken up by sub inspector Gajendra Singh. The police went to the spot and took the dead body of Harpal in their possession, and prepared the inquest report (Ext. A -10) on 16.07.1992, at about 14.30 P.M. The dead body was sent for postmortem ex­amination. Dr. O.P.L. Srivastava con­ducted the postmortem examination on 17.07.1992, at 02:30 P.M., and prepared autopsy report (Ext. A -12). He found six ante mortem injuries including the gun shot injury. He opined that the deceased had died due to shock and haemorrhage on account of ante mortem injuries. Meanwhile, the Investigating Officer inter­rogated the witnesses and inspected the spot, prepared site plan (Ext. A -8). Thereafter, the accused/appellants were arrested and recovery of the country made pistol (Ext. 1) was made on point­ing out of the accused/appellant Prakash. A memorandum of recovery (Ext. A -2) was got prepared in the pres­ence of the witnesses. After completing the investigation, charge sheet (Ext. A -15) was filed against the accused/appel­lants Prakash, Channi @ Charan Singh, Tilak Ram and Shauraj, for their trial in respect of offence punishable under Sec­tion 302 read with Section 34 of the I.P.C. A separate crime relating to offence punishable under Section 25 of the Arms Act was registered after recovery of the country made pistol from accused Prakash which was also investigated, and a separate charge sheet was filed after ob­taining necessary sanction (Ext. A -18) from the District Magistrate, Nainital, in respect of said offence, against accused/appellant Prakash

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