The appellant no.1 Krishna Pal (now deceased) and his father Jagveer appellant no.2, are alleged to have got annoyed when their agricultural plot of sugar-cane crop was flooded with water on account of the negligence of the two deceased persons Ajab Singh and his son Ravi Kumar as a result whereof they are stated to have committed their murder. The matter was investigated, the appellants were charge-sheeted and have ultimately been convicted by the learned Sessions Judge, Baghpat in Sessions Trial No.444 of 2008 arising out of Case Crime No.572 of 2008, under Sections 302, 201 read with Section 34 of I.P.C. and Section 25 of the Arms Act in Sessions Trial No.462 of 2008 and 463 of 2008 respectively. They have been awarded life imprisonment coupled with Rs.10,000/- fine for having committed the offences of murder Section 302 read with Section 34 and five years Rigorous Imprisonment with Rs.5,000/- fine for having committed the offence under Section 201 I.P.C. Further both the appellants have been found to be guilty of the offence under Section 25 of the Arms Act for which they have been awarded a sentence of one year each with Rs.500/- each as fine. In default of payment of fine an additional period of imprisonment of six months, three months and one month respectively as per the sentences above have been awarded that are to run concurrently. The appellants had also been charged for the offences under Section 307 read with Section 34 and Section 504 I.P.C. that were not found to be proved and they were acquitted on that count.

2. It may be noted that the appellant no.1 died on 27.07.2017 and the appeal against him stands abated vide our order dated 02.02.2018.

3. The prosecution version as unravelled in the first information report as also on a reading of the judgment of the trial court is that on 23.06.2008 the two deceased Ajab Singh and Ravi Kumar were irrigating their paddy field at about 6.00 a.m. in the morning when the boundary of their field and the vestibule for letting water pass from one field to another, gave way, which resulted in an overflow of water towards the sugar-cane crop field of the appellants, flooding a part of it. The deceased are stated to have informed the appellants that they are trying to contain the water and repair the damage, but the appellants got annoyed and threatening them to teach a lesson, the appellant no.1 went to his house and came along with a licensed .315 bore rifle of his father the appellant no.2, and also a country-made pistol that were loaded. The appellant no.1 armed with the rifle of his father and the appellant no.2 with the country-made pistol are alleged to have exhorted and fired at the deceased Ajab Singh who received gun-shot injuries and died on the spot. They also chased his son Ravi Kumar and shot him who also fell dead thereafter. It is also alleged that with a view to obliterate evidence they threw the bodies of the two deceased in the adjacent canal in which the water was running at a rapid speed and the bodies were recovered from the said canal. The approximate time of the incident is about 7.00 a.m.

4. The aforesaid occurrence was witnessed by many persons including PW-1 Pushpendra (son of the deceased Ajab Singh) who is also the first informant, accompanied by Puppendra PW-2, Kallu brother of the first informant and Sanjeev who were later-on during the course of trial first discharged as witnesses at the instance of the informant, but Sanjeev was later-on examined as a Court witness CW-1 at his instance. Dr. Yateesh Kumar who performed the post-mortem was examined as PW-3 and the other formal police witnesses and ballistic expert were examined as PWs-4 to 8.

5. The first informant and the other witnesses of fact have stated that when they saw the shots being fired, and these two persons being killed, they ran away towards the village and after the assailants had thrown the bodies in the canal and fled away, they again came back and searched for the dead