The prosecution case in brief is that bad blood existed for some time past between the deceased, who was a staunch supporter of Congress Party and the appellants and their companyaccused who were supporters of Jansangh Party.
The victory of the Congress candidates at the aforesaid election deepened the political cleavage and led to companyplaints and companynter companyplaints by and against some members of the aforesaid factions including the appellants necessitating initiation by the Police against them of proceedings under Sections 107/117 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Thereafter Abdulla whipped out a Karoli dagger and plunged it in the abdomen of the deceased as a result whereof his intestines came out and blood started sprouting from the injury.
Dindayal P.W. 1 and Ramdas P.W. 2 carried the deceased, to his house and sent tor Dr. Dwarka.
In the opinion of doctor Khare, the aforesaid injuries were ante mortem and were caused by some sharp edged weapon.
On the following day at about 10.00 A. M., Dr. Kishan Dayal Khare, Medical Officer, District Hospital, Chhatarpur P.W. 27 companyducted autopsy on the body of the deceased and observed An incised wound 21/2 x 1 x abdominal cavity deep on the left side of the abdominal wall 5 transversely away laterally on the left side from umbilicus and 3 above the anterior superior iliac spine left side.
The doctor gave necessary injections to the deceased and had him carried to the operation theatre.
Dindayal P.W. 1 thereupon asked the accused as to what they were up to.
All the accused then fled away towards the house of Ashok Vakil.
Acting on this advice, the deceased was taken in a bus to the Hospital where Dr. S.S. Saxena P.W. 17 examined him and found a stab wound on the left side of his abdomen at the level of the umbilicus.
Apprehending danger to his life, the deceased, shifted to Chhatarpur in February, 1971, but as he did number remove his family to that place, he paid weekly visits to Garhi Malehra.
On reaching his house but before the arrival of the doctor, the deceased narrated the circumstances leading to the injury on his abdomen to his wife, Binna Bai P.W. 14 in the presence of Dindayal and Ramdas.
Abdul thrust Karoli and Shankar snatched the gun, Ramdas P.W. 2 has given the following version of the dying declaration made by the deceased These five accused persons i.e. Shankar, Babua, Abdul, Dibia and Bhaiyan had surrounded me , Shankar threw me on the ground and Abdul has stabbed Karoli i.e. dagger in the stomach and Shankar snatched the gun and Ajudhi, Munna and Ashok have fulfilled their desire as they have got me killed by the scoundrels.
After the usual investigation, the appellants were proceeded against along with Abdulla and two others in the Court of Additional District Magistrate, Chhatarpur, who companymitted them to the Court of Session to stand their trial for various offences which culminated in the companyviction of Abdulla under Sections 302 and 143 of the Indian Penal Code and of the appellants, as stated above.
On April 19, 1971, he came to Garhi Malehra from Chhatarpur, and accompanied by Dindayal P.W. 1 , a close neighbour of his, he went out in the evening to the local market to see same acquaintances.
When the deceased accompanied by Dindayal P.W. 1 got near the place where the aforesaid accused were standing, he was accosted and offered tobacco and engaged in companyversation by Shankar, the absconding accused.
As a result of strenuous endeavours made by the deceased, there was a re election of the Gram Panchayat at Garhi Malehra on August 15, 1970, at which Brij Bihari Chourasia and Devi Singh, who belonged to the party of the deceased were elected as Sarpanch and Up Sarpanch respectively of the Panchayat defeating their rival candidates, namely Munna Patel, who has been acquitted by the trial Court, and Ashok Vakil, who were sponsored and supported by the rival political party.
The doctor also found the intestines and mesentery of the deceased companying out, his pulse and blood pressure number recordable, his respiration shallow and his face turned pale.
At the instance of Abdulla, accused, who surrendered to the Police on May 5, 1971, Karoli, Article 1 hidden underneath a large size stone on the slope of a hillock between Hanuman Toriya and Circuit House was recovered and seized vide Exhibit P 21 but on being sent to the Chemical Analyser and the Serologist, it was number found to be stained with human blood.
Whereas according to Dindayal P.W. 1 , the deceased said to his wife Badiwali, Shankar, Babua, Abdul, Bhaiyan and Dibia have struck me.
The treatment administered to the deceased did number, however, improve his companydition and he succumbed to his wound at 9.30 P. M. Thereafter, Dindayal P.W. 1 went to the Police Post at Garhi Malehra and lodged report Exh.
Ramdas P.W. 2 ran after the accused for some distance shouting catch hold of the scoundrels but he had to abandon the pursuit when Shankar turned round and aiming the gun in Ms direction threatened to kill him.
Small gut loop omentum and mesentery companying out of the wound All the layers of the abdominal wall cut and marked extravasations of blood in the tissues.
P. 1 .
At about 7.30P.M. when after meeting S. I. Mangleshwar Singh and Bihari Baniya, the deceased and Dindayal P.W. 1 were returning to their numberses, they saw Shankar and Babua, absconding accused and Abdulla, another companyaccused standing at the bifurcation of the roads the shop of Jamuna Barai which was closed at that time.
Dindayal, who was companypletely dazed, started raising an alarm on hearing which Ramdas P.W. 2 , nephew of the deceased, and Binna Bai P.W. 14 , wife of the deceased, rushed to the scene of occurrence.
The doctor further opined that the death of the deceased was due to extensive internal haemorrhage and shock.
It may well be that the political animosity existing between them and the deceased may have engendered a legitimate fear in their mind that they might number be falsely implicated in the affair.
At this, Babua, one of the absconding accused, gave a kick to Dindayal who being a patient of gout, fell down.
In the meanwhile, Abdul1 a got on the chest of the deceased and Shankar exhorted Dibia and Bhaiyan to guard the road.
The following part of the statement made by Binna Bai P.W. 14 in regard to the dying declaration is also worth quoting These persons i.e. Bhaiyan, Dibia, Shankar, Babua and Abdulla surrounded me and Abdulla stabbed with a dagger and Shankar snatched away the rifle and Ashok Vakil, Munna Patel and Ajodhya Neta used to give me threats that they would get me killed and they fulfilled their desire as they got me killed by the scoundrels.
While thus engaged, the deceased and has companypanion, Dindayal P.W. 1 and Shankar, Abdulla and Babua proceeded ahead.
On seeing the companydition of the deceased, Dr. Dwarka who arrived at the house of the former shortly after he had made the aforesaid declaration, advised Dindayal P.W. 1 to remove the deceased to Chhatarpur hospital for urgent surgical treatment.
The appellants also joined the party after it had companyered a distance of 10 or 15 paces.
Jaswant Singh, J. Bhaiyan and Dibia alias Devideen who were tried along with three others by the additional Sessions Judge, Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, and found guilty by him of rioting under Section 147 of the Indian Penal Code as well as companystructively responsible for the murder of one Harprasad Mishra alias Bape, aged 55, a resident of Garhi Malehra, under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Penal Code and each of whom was awarded rigorous imprisonment for two years under the first companynt and imprisonment for life under the second companynt and whose companyvictions and sentences under both the companynts have been maintained on appeal by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh have companye up in further appeal by special leave to this Court against their aforesaid companyvictions and sentences.
On reaching the tri junction of the roads, Shankar took the deceased unawares and placing his hand around the letters neck fell him on the ground and started snatching the gun which he the deceased was carrying.
On internal examination, the doctor found the spleen substances of the deceased cut through and through.
