JUDGMENT

1. The main facts of the case out of which these appeals arise have not been disputed before us. On 12th February 1932 the Circle Inspector of Sitapur received information from one Gokul Pasi that a gang of armed dacoits from the Hardoi Distrct was coming by train to Ramkot station in the Sitapur District in order to commit a dacoity in the house of Paragi Sah Bania of Ramkot that night. The Circle Inspector proceeded with the said Gokul and a strong force of police in a motor lorry to Ramkot railway station. He obtained the services of some men from influential residents of the locality and placed his party in concealment at points of vantage round the railway station, the Circle Inspector himself keeping a watch on what was taking place. The train arrived after 3 p. m. Gokul met it and was seen to be in conversation with three men who had alighted from the train.

2. He accompanied these men to a well outside the station where they sat down. Gokul left them there and informed the Circle Inspector that only three of the gang had come to Ramkot, that others were coming in an addha (light bullock cart), from the previous railway station, Barmi. The Circle Inspector then arrested the three men whose names were Baldeo, Kedar and Ram Prasad. Kedar Brahman and Baldeo Lohar turned out to be bad characters under police surveillance from villages Karkhala and Rahimabad respectively in the police station of Misrikh, District Sitapur. Ram Prasad Brahman was a resident of Ugpur, police station Baniganj in the Hardoi District. Nothing suspicious was found on a search of their persons. After these arrests the Circle Inspector and his party proceeded in the motor lorry on the road towards Barmi. At a large grove known as Lakhpera in village Sakatia about two miles from Ramkot the Circle Inspector and his party observed an addha with four men seated in it and four other men standing by it. The lorry was stopped at a short distance and the Circle Inspector accosted this party. One of the four occupants of the addha, Nil Kanth, immediately jumped out and tried to escape. Some of the party pursued him, whereupon he drew out a revolver and fired upon them. Meanwhile the other occupants of the addha alighted and one of them Lekha Singh drew out a gun from the addha which, it is alleged, he fired at the police party, but the evidence on this point is very conflicting and has in our opinion rightly been discarded by the learned Sessions Judge. The Kotwal and his men effected the arrests of Lekha Singh, his uncle Bhikam Singh and the fourth man who had been in the addha, Dwarka. They also arrested the remaining four men who had been seen standing by the addha, Chhote Lal, Chandrika Prasad, Bisram Singh and Mul Chand. A party had been organised to pursue Nil Kanth, who had obtained two or three minutes start. This party was headed by Sub-Inspector Aminuddin Khan and was accompanied by the informer Gokul. They got on to the tracks of Nil Kanth and pursued him for a distance of nearly two miles, he firing his revblver at intervals. Gokul Pasi, the informer, was the closest to Nil Kanth and was gaining upon him when a shot from Nil Kanth's revolver wounded him through the lung and brought him to the ground. Thereafter Nil Kanth made good his escape. A revolver was subsequently picked up in a grove in the neighbourhood. The gun which Lekha Singh had drawn out from the addha was found to be a gun that had been stolen from a railway booking clerk of Hardoi on 81st July 1928. Lekha Singh also had in his possession three cartridges and Bhikam Singh had four cartridges on his person. Fifty more cartridges were found in the addha as well as an electric torch. Lekha Singh and Bhikam Singh are Thakurs from village Bihar, police station Kot-wali, Hardoi District, Dwarka is a Brahman of the same village. Of the four persons who were found standing by the addha Chhote Lal is a Brahman of Barwa, police station Baghauli, Chandrika Prasad is a Brahman of Bikapu