REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1994 OF 2009

Mrinal Das & Ors.

.... Appellant(s)

Versus

The State of Tripura

.... Respondent(s)

WITH

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1719 2011

(ARISING OUT OF SLP (CRL.) No.6728/2011 ( CRL.M.P. NO.

17812 OF

2008)

J U D G M E N T

P. Sathasivam, J.

a) Criminal Appeal No. 1994 of 2009

1) This appeal is filed against the final judgment and order

dated 29.01.2008 passed by the Gauhati High Court, Agartala

Bench in Criminal Appeal No. 90 of 2005 whereby the Division

Bench of the High Court, on an appeal filed by the State of

Tripura-respondent herein, reversed the order of acquittal of

the appellants herein dated 19.04.2005 passed by the

1

Additional Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Khowai in Case S.T.

No. 54(WT/K)/2002 and convicted and sentenced them to

imprisonment for life under Section 302 read with Section 34

of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”)

with a fine of Rs.3000/- each, in default, to suffer a further

term of simple imprisonment for three months.

b)

Criminal Appeal No.1719 of 2011

@ SLP (Crl.) 6728/2011 ( Crl. M.P.17812 of 2008)

2)

The convicted accused, Tapan Das (A-5) and Gautam Das

(A-11), against the same order of the High Court dated

29.01.2008 confirming their conviction under Section 302 IPC

and imposing life sentence with a fine of Rs.3,000/- each, in

default, to suffer simple imprisonment for three months filed

this appeal by way of special leave petition with a delay of 62

days. Delay condoned. Leave granted.

3)

Brief facts:

a)

On 31.08.2000, a meeting was convened in West

Santinagar S.B. School at the invitation of Durgapur Local

Committee of Democratic Youth Federation of India (in short

“DYFI”). After the meeting was over, Tapan Chakraborty,

(since deceased), a leader of DYFI accompanied by Babul Dey

2

PW-1, Ganesh Kol PW-2, Nilai Das PW-3, Ramakanta Paul

PW-10, Benu Ranjan Dhupi PW-11 and Prabir Biswas PW-12

reached Santinagar Ferry Ghat to cross the river on way to

home, on the other side of the river. At about 6.30 p.m., when

Tapan Chakbraborty and his companions disembarked from

the boat, Ratan Sukladas (A-12) dragged him down and when

he fell on the ground, Tapan Das (A-5) and Gautam Das (A-11)

shot at him causing severe bullet injuries. After finishing their

job, the assailants fled away. The victim was immediately

taken to the local hospital but as he was sinking, he was

referred to G.B. Hospital at Agartala for specialized treatment.

The victim died on the way to hospital.

(b) On the very same day, at about 08:35 p.m, one Babul Dey

(PW-1) lodged a First Information Report (in short “the FIR”)

being FIR No. 85/2000 with the Police Station, Kalyanpur,

West Tripura, Tripura. On the basis of the FIR, a case was

registered under Sections 148, 149, 326 and 307 of the IPC

read with Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959 against eight

persons, viz., Somesh Das (A-7), Mrinal Das (A-4), Tapan Das

(A-5), Ashim Bhattacharjee (A-2), Pradip Das (A-9), Shailendra

3

Das (A-3), Subal Deb (A-10) and Gautam Das (A-11) and

others.

c)

After the death of Tapan Chakraborty, Section 302 IPC

was also added against the accused persons. During the

investigation, the Investigating Officer arrested 13 accused

persons and on completion, filed a report under Section 173 of

the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to

as “the Code”) under Sections 148, 149, 326 and 302 IPC and

Section 27 of the Arms Act against Somesh Das (A-7), Mrinal

Das (A-4), Tapan Das (A-5), Ashim Bhattacharjee (A-2), Pradip

Das (A-9), Shailendra Das (A-3), Subal Deb (A-10), Gautam

Das (A-11), Anil Das (A-1), Bikash Das (A-6), Uttam Shil (A-8),

Ratan Sukladas (A-12) and Radha Kant Das (A-13).

d)

Vide order dated 12.08.2002, the Additional Sessions

Judge, Khowai