In the High Court at Calcutta Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction Appellate Side The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya And The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Uday Kumar D.R. No. 5 of 2024 With CRA (DB) 10 of 2025 With CRA (DB) 20 of 2025 Aftab Alam Vs.

The State of West Bengal For the appellant : Dr. Arjun Chowdhury, Ms. Pratusha Dutta Chowdhury, Ms. Sunayana Parveen, Mr. Mantu Manda, Mr. Bappaditya Roy For the State : Mr. Nilay Chakraborty, Ld. APP., Mr. Sourav Ganguly Heard on : 23.07.2025, 24.07.2025, 25.07.2025 and 28.07.2025 Reserved on : 28.07.2025 Judgment on : 01.08.2025 Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, J.:-

1. The Death Reference has come up before this Court for confirmation of a death sentence awarded to the appellant by a judgment dated September 21, 2024, whereby the appellant was convicted under Sections 396, 397 and 398 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced to death for commission of offence punishable under Section

396 of the IPC as well as to rigorous imprisonment for seven years and fine of Rs. 5,000/-, in default to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for one year for the offence punishable under Section 397 of the IPC. The appellant was further sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years and fine of Rs. 5,000/-, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year, for the offence punishable under Section

398 of the IPC.

2. The appeal has been preferred by the convict against the self-same judgment and sentence.

3. The prosecution case, in a nutshell, is that around 1:00 am on July 28, 2023, the appellant, along with five other co-accused persons, came to the house of the victims Mehtab and his wife Moumita.

4. Moumita was asleep in an adjacent room to that in which the deceased Mehtab was sleeping along with his two sons – Ayan and Rehan. Moumita suddenly woke up and found that the appellant and one other male co-accused was looming over her. They inflicted several stab wounds with knives on her, upon which she feigned death. The said accused persons, taking her to be dead, left her and went to the next room where all the assailants grabbed Mehtab and threatened his sons that they would meet the same fate if they created any trouble. Ultimately, the accused persons stabbed Mehtab several times and killed him. Moumita escaped through a window in her room and hid behind an adjacent wall.

5. After some time, a „Dhalai‟ party, which was returning from Jaigaon in a pickup truck, passed by, when Moumita called them. At about 2:00 am, the Dhalai party found Moumita severely injured and bleeding and took her to one Ashok Roy, a neighbour, who then called one Nirod, who drove Moumita along with Abul Hussain, who was a part of the Dhalai party and the owner of the Maruti van in which Moumita was taken to the nearby Dhupguri Rural Hospital. Other local people also accompanied them. The neighbours, including Rafique, allegedly also a member of the Dhalai party, visited the place of occurrence and found Mehtab dead and his sons missing. Ultimately, it was found out that the two sons of Moumita and Mehtab had taken shelter in the house of one Ashwini Roy, another neighbour.

6. While returning from the hospital after getting Moumita admitted there, the passengers of the Maruti van stopped at a tea stall at Deomali, under Police Station-Dhupguri, when they noticed the accused persons coming barefoot in muddy apparel, their hands blood-stained and covered with handkerchiefs. Being suspicious, the passengers of the Maruti van apprehended the accused persons and detained them at the Murgi Hotel, Deomali. The police was intimated and soon came to the spot and arrested the accused persons, taking them to the Police Station.

7. Subsequently, the accused persons were identified by Moumita, who adduced evidence as P.W.1, and her two sons, namely Ayan (P.W.2) and Rehan (P.W.3).

8. Subsequently, on August 8, 2023, allegedly on the basis of leading information supplied by the appellant to the effect that he