2025:CGHC:14067-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 1832 of 2024

1 - Ramesh Shukla S/o Padumnath Shukla, Aged About 44 Years, R/o Village Mohtara, Thana Kasdol, District- Balodabazar- Bhatapara ( C.G.).

--- Appellant versus

1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through- Police Station Kasdol, District-

Balodabazar- Bhatapara ( C.G.).

--- Respondent CRA No. 1863 of 2024

1 - Niket @ Nikku S/o Krishandatt Shukla, Aged About 27 Years, R/o Village-Mohtara, Thana-Kasdol, District-Balodabazar-Bhatapara (C.G.)

2 - Smt. Subhashini W/o Ramesh Shukla, Aged About 30 Years, R/o Village-Mohtara, Thana-Kasdol, District-Balodabazar-Bhatapara (C.G.)

---Appellants Versus

1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through-Police Station- Kasdol, District-

Balodabazar-Bhatapara (C.G.)

... Respondent (Cause-title taken from Case Information System)

For Appellants : Mr.Vikas Pandey, Advocate.

For State/Respondent: Mr. Shashank Thakur, Deputy Advocate General.

Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, Judge Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

24-03-2025

Digitally signed

by MOHAMMAD

AADIL KHAN

1. Both these appeals are arising out of the same crime number, same sessions trial and by the common judgment, therefore, they are being heard and decided together.

2. Both these appeals are arising out of the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 26-09-2024 passed by the learned Second Additional Sessions Judge, Balodabazar (C.G.) in S.T. No.70/2019 whereby the appellants have been convicted and sentenced in the following manner with a direction to run all the jail sentences concurrently:-

Conviction and sentence awarded to appellant Ramesh Shukla:-

Conviction and sentence awarded to appellants Niket @ Nikku and Smt. Subhashini:-

3. Brief facts of the case are that on 16-04-2018 deceased Bhupendra @ Rinku, a boy aged about 5 years was playing with his friends and during their play, he received some injury on his head by the cricket bat of his friend Monu who was the son of present appellant Ramesh Shukla and went in unconsciousness. When Monu informed the incident to his father the preset appellant, Ramesh Shukla, and Niket @ Nikku took him to their house and tried to bring his consciousness, but they did not succeed. Due to fear that the father of the deceased would not trust them if they disclosed the actual incident, they murdered the deceased by causing suffocation by pressing his nose and mouth and concealing the dead body in a drum at their washroom and in the night they threw the dead body in a filed having distance about 2 km. from their house.

On 16-04-2018 a missing report Ex.-P/31 was lodged by Ashok Kumar Sen (PW-25), the father of the deceased, in which he alleged that his minor son Bhupenra @ Rinku is missing since morning and his whereabouts could not be traced out, police registered offence under Section 363 of the IPC against the unknown person and started investigation. During search of the missing person on 19-04-2018 dead body of the deceased was seen by Rajesh Kumar Sen, which was almost in decomposed condition, lying in the field of one Bachchan Manikpuri, and he lodged dehati merg intimation Ex.-P/1 to Police Station Kasdol where unnumbered merg was recorded. In the said dehati merg intimation Ex.-P/1, he disclosed that the dead body was identifiable by its face and the clothes worn by the deceased at the time when he was missing, and it was the dead body of his nephew Rinku @

Bhupendra. The dead body recovery panchnama Ex.-P/2 was prepared in the presence of the witnesses and the inquest of the dead body Ex.- P/6 was also prepared in the presence of the witnesses. The dead body was sent for its postmortem, where PW-29 Doctor Snighdha Jain conducted the postmortem of the dead body of the deceased and gave postmortem report Ex.-P/7. During the postmortem, she found that the dead body was in an advanced state of decomposition and after conducting its postmortem, she opined that the cause of death resu