Mehta, J.

1. The instant appeal is directed against the judgment dated 10th May, 2019 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Allahabad whereby the Criminal Appeal No. 6318 of 2003 preferred by the appellant for challenging the judgment dated 25th November, 2003 and the order of sentence dated 27th November, 2003 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge No.1, Mainpuri(hereinafter being referred to as the ‘trial Court’) in S.T. No. 56 of 2003 was rejected.

2. By the said judgment, learned trial Court convicted the accused appellant and accused Omkar for the offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, Digitally signed by Deepak Singh Date: 2024.05.07 15:40:21 IST Reason:

Signature Not Verified 1860(hereinafter being referred to as ‘IPC’) while acquitting accused Sobran and Durvin from the charges. The accused appellant as well as accused Omkar were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/-, each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year.

This Court is informed that accused Omkar has served out the sentence awarded to him and was released on remission.

Brief facts: -

3. The first informant-Ram Naresh(PW-5) gave a written report(Ex.Ka.15) at the Police Station Dannahar, District Mainpuri alleging that his sister, brother-in-law and nephew- Sanju(deceased) were residing nearby his house in village Gokulpur for the last 15 years; on 31st August, 2002, at about 5.00

p.m., accused Omkar came and asked Sanju(deceased) to remove his Naands(Hauda) from the land of the accused, to which, Sanju(deceased) objected saying that the Naands(Hauda) were existing there for a long time; at this, accused Omkar armed with a rifle of 315 bore along with Jagvir Singh(appellant herein) armed with country made pistol climbed on the roof of house of accused Omkar and exhorted the two accused(Durvin and Sobran) to surround Sanju(deceased); the accused Durvin and Sobran who were armed with country made pistols went to the house of Sanju(deceased) who on account of fear and to save his life climbed up to the roof of informant’s house. Accused Omkar and Jagvir fired shots at Sanju(deceased) from the roof of Omkar’s house. On hearing the noise, Ram Naresh-first informant(PW-5) and Ram Prakash(PW-1) rushed to the courtyard and found injured-Sanju trying to step down, but he rolled down near the staircase and died in the courtyard. All four accused ran away from the spot after firing gunshots.

4. On the basis of the said report, FIR No. 85 of 2002 (Ex.Ka.2) dated 31st August, 2002 came to be registered against the four accused namely Omkar, Jagvir Singh, Durvin and Sobran.

Investigation was assigned to Ganga Prasad Gautam(PW-6) who prepared the inquest report(Ex.Ka.6) and other spot documents. The dead body of Sanju was subjected to autopsy by Dr. M.L. Gupta, Medical Officer(PW-3) who prepared the post mortem report(Ex.Ka.1) taking note of four abrasions and two firearm wounds on the body of the deceased. The entry wound was located on the chest area and the exit wound was located on the back of the chest. The Medical Officer(PW-3) opined that the death of Sanju was caused due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of ante mortem injuries. The Site Inspection Plan(Ex.Ka.12) was prepared, statements of witnesses were recorded and a country-made pistol was recovered vide recovery memo(Ex.Ka.13) on being pointed out by the accused appellant Jagvir Singh.

5. Upon conclusion of the investigation, a charge sheet(Ex.Ka.14) came to be filed against the four accused persons nominated in the FIR for the offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC.

6. Since the offence was exclusively sessions triable, the case was committed and transferred to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge No.1, Mainpuri(‘trial Court’). The trial Court framed charges against the accused persons for the above offence