IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No.339 of 2023 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-77 Year-2020 Thana- DEEPNAGAR District- Nalanda ======================================================

Nitish Kumar @ Nimiya, Son of Late Dinesh Prasad, Resident of Village -

Biyawani, P.S.- Deepnagar, District - Nalanda at Biharsharif.

... ... Appellant Versus The State of Bihar ... ... Respondent ======================================================

with CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No. 376 of 2023 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-77 Year-2020 Thana- DEEPNAGAR District- Nalanda ======================================================

Rajesh Kumar, Son of Dinesh Prasad, Resident of Village- Biyawani, PS-

Deepnagar, Distt- Nalanda at Biharsharif.

... ... Appellant Versus The State of Bihar ... ... Respondent ======================================================

Appearance :

(In CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No. 339 of 2023)

For the Appellant : Mr. A.K. Thakur, Advocate Mr. Abhimanyu Singh, Advocate Mrs. Akrity Aishwarya, Advocate For the Informant : Mr. Binay Kumar, Advocate For the State : Mr. Bipin Kumar, APP (In CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No. 376 of 2023)

For the Appellant : Mr. A.K. Thakur, Advocate Mr. Abhimanyu Singh, Advocate Mrs. Akrity Aishwarya, Advocate For the Informant : Mr. Binay Kumar, Advocate For the State : Mr. Bipin Kumar, APP ======================================================

CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRAVEEN KUMAR

ORAL JUDGMENT

(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD)

Date : 17-02-2026 Heard learned counsel for the appellants, learned counsel for the informant and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State in both the appeals.

2. The appellants in these two appeals are seeking to set aside the judgment of conviction dated 19.01.2023 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘impugned judgment’) passed by learned Additional District and Sessions Judge-II, Nalanda at Biharsharif (hereinafter referred to as the ‘learned trial court’) in Sessions Case No. 297 of 2020/ Trial No. 01 of 2021 arising out of Deepnagar P.S. Case No. 77 of 2020 for the offences under Sections 302/34, 448/34, 504/34 and 506/34 of the Indian Penal Code (in short ‘IPC’) and Section 27 of the Arms Act. The appellants are also praying for setting aside the order of sentence dated 28.01.2023 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘impugned order’) by which the learned trial court has been pleased to award a sentence of life imprisonment for the offence punishable under Section 302/34 IPC and has further imposed a fine of Rs.1,00,000/- to each of the appellants, the trial court has awarded a sentence of five years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 25,000/- for the offence punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act, for the offence punishable under Section 448/34 of the IPC, one year imprisonment and for the offence punishable under Section 504/34 of the IPC, two years imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 5,000/- and for the offence punishable under Section 506/34 of the IPC, the trial court has awarded imprisonment of five years with a fine of Rs.

10,000/-. All the sentences are to run concurrently.

Prosecution Story

3. The prosecution story is based on the fardbeyan of Mathur Mistri (PW-3) recorded by the Sub-Inspector of Police Anita Kumari (PW-6) of Deepnagar Police Station in Sadar Hospital, Biharsharif, Nalanda, on 09.03.2020 at about 22:50 hrs. In his fardebyan, the informant alleged that on 09.03.2020 during evening time he was in his house, at that time about 7:30 P.M., his co-villagers (1) Rajesh Kumar, (2) Nitish Kumar @ Nimiya and (3) Dinesh Prasad armed with pistol in their hands entered into his house hurling abuses and shot at his son Mahesh Mistri. As a result of this, his son died at the place of occurrence, then he and his family members concealed themselves. The informant further alleged that all the three accused persons left the place by giving life threatening. The informant has given the reason