Form No. J(1)

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Present :

The Hon’ble Justice RajasekharMantha And The Hon’ble Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta C.R.A. No. 437 of 2015 WITH CRAN 5 of 2023 SANJAY KR SINGH @ PANDIT & ANR VS STATE OF WEST BENGAL WITH C.R.A. No. 435 of 2015 TINKU NASKAR @ POKA & ORS VS STATE OF WEST BENGAL WITH C.R.A. No. 438 of 2015 PINTU PATRA & ORS.

VS STATE OF WEST BENGAL WITH C.R.A. No. 462 of 2015 RATAN HALDER VS STATE OF WEST BENGAL For the Appellants in CRA 437 of 2015, CRA 438 of 2015& CRA 462 of 2015 : Mr. Sudipto Moitra, Ld. Sr. Adv.

Mr. Angshuman Chakraborty, Adv.

Mr. S.S. Saha, Adv.

Mr. Saikat Ghosh, Adv.

Mr. Abhisekh Chakraborty, Adv.

For the Appellant Nos. 1 & 2 in CRA 435 of 2015 : Mr. Navanil De, Adv.

Ms. Monami Mukherjee, Adv.

For the Appellant No. 3 in CRA 435 of 2015 : Mr. Fazlur Rahman, Adv.

Mr. Md. Babul Hussain, Adv.

Mr. Mihinur Hossain, Adv.

For the State : Ms. Anasuya Sinha, Ld. A.P.P.

Mr. Ranadip Sengupta, Adv.

Heard on : 22nd April, 2025 Judgment on : 28th April, 2025 RajasekharMantha, J

1. The present appeals are directed against the judgment and order of conviction dated 29th June 2015 and 30th June 2015 passed by the Learned Additional District and Sessions Judge,1st Court atBarasat, North 24 Parganas in Sessions Trial no. 1(4) of 2014 arising out of Sessions Case No.

29(9) of 2013.

2. By the said judgment the appellants were convicted under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs.10,000/-, I/D to suffer simple imprisonment for 5 years. The appellants were also convicted for commission of offences punishable under Section 201/34 of the IPC and sentenced to simple imprisonment for 5 years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, I/D to suffer simple imprisonment for 2 years. The sentences were directed to run concurrently.

A. The Prosecution Case

3. The prosecution case is that on 2nd November, 2011 an unidentified dead body was found somewhere around Raigachi Chotopole, within the jurisdiction ofRajarhat PS, Kolkata. The body was photographed by PW-24 a photographer and PW-26, the IO of Rajarhat PS. It was removed with the help of PW 4, Abu Taleb, a rickshaw van puller and brought to the PS and was later stated to have been delivered to the R.G. Kar Hospital at Kolkatafor post-mortem.

4. Despite circulation of the photograph of the dead body to several police stations in and around Kolkata and enquiries being launched to that effect, nobody came forward to identify the same.

5. After about 4 months, the Rajarhat PS, which had initially registered a U/D Case and subsequently FIR No. 158/2011 dated 3rd November, 2011 was registered, filed a final report of mistake of fact on 14th March, 2012, before the ACJM at Barasat.

6. The prosecution case thereafter goes on to indicate that PW 26, Investigating Officer, attached to the Rajarhat Police Station on 20th May, 2013 received a phone call from an unknown person that the deceased was one Dinu Ali Baidya alias Sambhu.PW-26 stated that he went to the house of the family of the deceased with a photograph of the deceased and was identified by his mother PW-11. He made further investigation and also ascertained the identities of the alleged killers of the victim. The Rajarhat PS thereafter realizing that the deceased was residing under Baguihati PS transferred the case to Baguihati PS for investigation.

7. A second FIR came to be registered byPW-21, OC of the Baguihati PS, being No. 335 of 2013 dated 9th July, 2013. The said 2nd FIR, however, made reference to the first FIR being No. 158 of 2011, informant whereof was PW 1, Moijuddin Naskar. PW 27 was the IO who claims to have investigated the case thereafter.

8. The investigation was re-opened and charge sheet was filed against 11 accused persons. The named accused were (i) Debojyoti Ghosh alias Babai (killed while on parole) substituted by his sister (for realisation of fine after conviction), (ii) TinkuNaskar alias Poka, (iii) Surojit Das