A conviction based on extra-judicial dying declarations that are uncorroborated and not supported by the production of the original document, coupled with total reliance on inadmissible police-recorded confessional statements, is unsustainable under the Indian Evidence Act.

The appellants, namely, Sunil Kumar, Balmukun Yadav @ Ravikant, Raju Kumar @ Narendra Kumar Raju, Dharmendra Paswan and Nandan Yadav faced trial in Sessions Trial No. 20 of 2018 arising out of Sheikhpura P.S. Case No. 16/2017 in the 1st Court of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sheikhpura dated 17.01.2017 of the charges under Section 302/34 of the IPC and Section 27 of the Arms Act and the learned Trial Judge vide his judgment and order of conviction dated 22nd July 2019 convicted the above-named appellants and sentenced them to suffer life imprisonment for the offence punishable under Section 302/34 of the IPC and also to pay fine of Rs. 10,000/-, in default of payment of fine further imprisonment for one year each. The above-named convicts were also sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 5 years each for the offence punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act and also to pay fine of Rs. 2,000/- each in default further imprisonment of 03 months each.

2. The said order of conviction and sentence dated 22nd July 2019 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, 1st Court at Sheikhpura is under Challenge in the instant appeal.

3. Since, all the appeals arise against the one and identical judgment, we propose to dispose of the appeals by the following judgment.

Factual Matrix.

4. One, Santosh Kumar Singh, Inspector of Police and the then S.H.O. of the Sheikhpura police station recorded a suo motu statement on 17th January 2017 at about 7:30 pm at Sheikhpura District Hospital stating inter alia that on the same date he along with S.I. Ram Bhajan Singh and some members of Armed Police Forces were conducting patrolling duty at Teen Muhani More. During their duty, the SHO received a phone call in his official Mobile number bearing 9431822682 from a mobile number 8409228344 at about 6:10 pm disclosing the name of the caller as Ujjwal Rai, a Junior Engineer, MNREGA, Sheikhpura Block, informed him that he took shelter inside Maria Ashram, Sheikhpura, One Sunil Kumar, P.R.S., Karya Panchayat was calling him to come outside the gate to record some false entries in his Measurement Book.

5. In order to work out the said information, the above named police officer reached Maria Ashram with Force and found that a person was lying on the ground near the gate of the said Ashram and another person was running to escape. The police party tried to chase him but the said person fled away scaling the boundary wall of the Ashram and the field thereafter. The person who was lying on the ground disclosed himself as Ujjwal Raj. He received gunshot injury immediately the police officer took him by his police jeep to the hospital on the way he disclosed that he was being threatened by the Mukhiya of Karya Panchayat . Balmukund Yadav @ Ravi Kant, and P.R.S. Sunil Kumar to make wrong entry in the Measurement Book Book in respect of the works conducted under the MNREGA Scheme which he refused to do. On the date of occurrence Sunil Kumar called him in front of the gate of Maria Ashram when he refused to go there, one Nandan Yadav, Raju Kumar, Dharmendra Paswan entered inside the Ashram and forcibly brought him in front of the gate of the said Ashram. He saw Balmukund Yadav standing there with a pistol in his hand and P.R.S. Sunil Kumar was also with him. The victim was not going outside of the gate out where the then Balmukund instructed Nandan to fire at him. Nandan resorted to firing which st