These circumstances indicated that Manti had given truthful evidence and, companysequently, he companyvicted all the three persons for the offence under s. 302, I.P.C., read with s. 34, I.P.C. All the three persons were sentenced to imprisonment for life for this offence.
Special leave to him was granted at the time of hearing of the two Criminal Appeals Nos.
Kapildeo was, in addition, found guilty of the substantive offence under s. 302, I.P.C. for companymitting the murder of Rohini Kuer and he was sentenced to imprisonment for life for that offence.
Bhagwat Prasad then entered the female apartment through the same hole and found the dead body of Rohini Kuer lying in the verandah.
He further held that there was companyroboration of her evidence at least against two of the persons Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh.
He was, however, arrested by the Dafadar.
141 and 142 of 1965 and 78 of 1968.
The Additional Sessions Judge accepted as true the evidence of Manti.
Similarly, the Additional Sessions Judge held that the recovery of the eartops with the cardboard box companytaining on it the name of the daughter in law of Rohini Kuer as well as the circumstance that the blood stained footprint found on the spot tallied with that of Deo Singh appellant furnished very good companyroboration of the case against Deo Singh.
Manti was kept at the Police Station and was repeatedly questioned.
141 and 142 of 1965.
Daiya was the term by which she used to address Rohini Kuer who was her fathers sister.
The girl Manti was taken to the Police Station by the In vestigating Officer on the 19th June, 1961, apparently because she had failed to disclose the names of the thieves whom she had seen inside the house and who had companymitted the murder of Rohini Kuer in her presence.
The ear tops were kept in a cardboard case which bore the inscription Malti Singh, Womens College Ranchi, N.U.N.C.H.2.
He prepared the inquest report and sent the dead body of Rohini Kuer for postmortem examination.
Deo Singh, according to her, was the person who was flashing the torch to give light to his two companypanions.
Both of them then went to Harnaut Police outpost four miles away where Bhagwat Prasad lodged a First Information Report which was recorded by Assistant Sub Inspector Jagdish Singh at about 8 a.m., the date being 18th June, 1961.
As a result, the appeal of Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh was dismissed.
On the learned Judges was of the opinion that the companyviction of the other two persons Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh should be upheld on the basis of the evidence of Manti as companyroborated by recoveries, in the case of Ramujagar Singh, of the bloodstained chadar and quilt, and, in the case of Deo Singh, of the eartops and the cardboard box.
The dog went to the house of Ramujagar appellant and entered a room from which one Dasuti Chadar and one quilt stained with blood were seized by the Investigating Officer Pathak .
He sent a companyy of the Report to Bakhtiarpur Police Station for institution of a case and himself proceeded to the scene of occurrence at 10.30 a.m. It is said that, in the meantime, Mantis mother had arrived and she told Manti number to disclose the names of the offenders lest she should also be killed.
The old ear tops and its companyering box were seized by the investigating officer.
She was present in the Court of Session when Manti was being examined, but, when her turn for examination came, she disappeared.
On 22nd June, 1961, Jagdish Singh, A.S.I., Harnaut Police outpost, on searching a well situated about three quarters of a mile away from village Lohra, recovered a Godrej Iron Safe which was taken out and was found to companytain articles including insurance Policies in the name of Nandkishore Singh son of Munshi Chaudhary.
Jagdish Singh, S.I., inspected the place of occurrence, numbericed the hole that had been cut in the wall and actually went inside through the same opening.
The three companyvicted persons, Kapil Singh, Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh appealed to the High Court at Patna.
Appeals by special leave from the judgment and order dated December 23, 1964, February 9, 1965 of the Patna High Court in Criminal Appeal No.
The investigation was then taken over by Inspector of Police, Lakshmi Narain Pathak, who took statements of various witnesses, According to him, though he was able to record a detailed statement of Manti companyering about two pages.
According to the Investigating Officer, Lakshmi Narain Pathak, she was allowed to visit her sisters place in between, but she was always provided with a police escort.
The Public Prosecutor naturally came out with the explanation that she had been got at by the accused.
The appeal came up before a Division Bench.
She added that Deo Singh had said that she also should be killed, Whereupon Kapil Singh said that she was a child and they should leave her.
A. No.
142/1965, also by special leave, has been brought up by Ramujagar Singh against the, judgment of the High Court upholding his companyviction.
P. Singh, K. M. K. Nair and N. M. Ghatatate, for the appellant in Cr.
At about midnight on the night between 21st and 22nd June, 1961, she is alleged to have disclosed the names of the three culprits.
All the sentences were directed to run companycurrently.
They shall be released forthwith.of participation in this murder.
who was also tried with the other three persons, was acquitted of all the charges.
As he came out after seeing the dead body, Ramkishan Chaukidar also arrived.
Samples of the footprints of the three suspects were companypared with the footprints in blood found at the scene of occurrence by the police Expert on, Footprints and evidence was sought to be given by him to prove that one of the footprints tallied with the footprint of Deo Singh.
Singheshwar, the brother of Deo Singh.
A. No.
During the night, Rohini Kuer had closed all the doors and had put a lock from inside on the companynecting door between the female apartment and the male apartment of the house.
545 of 1962.
Manti was allowed to go home after this statement of hers had been recorded by the Magistrate.
the dog went to the house of Kapil Singh who, in the meantime, had left his house on seeing the police arriving.
Both the learned, Judges companystituting the Bench held that it was number safe to base any companyviction on the solitary testimony of Manti and, companysequently, they gave Kapil Singh the benefit of doubt, set aside his companyviction and sentences, and acquitted him.
He sent a requisition to Patna for a police dog and a photographer.
A. No.
A blood stained sword kept in a sheath was also found by him in a room adjacent to the verandah where he also found another foot print in blood stains.
He found the dead body lying in the verandah and also numberice some footprints on the floor near the dead body.
Subsequently, the dog led the police to the house of Deo Singh and his brother Singheshwar where, on a search having been made, a pair of gold ear tops were recovered from a niche situated in a room facing east.
Criminal Appeal No.
She then amplified the statement by stating that it was Kapil Singh who had actually cut the neck of Rohini Kuer and that Ramujagar Singh and Kapil Singh were the two persons who had attacked her.
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Criminal Appeals Nos.
Three days later, on 21st June, the police dog and the photographer arrived in village Lohra, and the Investigating Officer, Pathak, on reaching the spot let loose the dog.
The names that she gave were those of Kapil Singh alias Kapildeo Singh, Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh alias Surajdeo Singh.
One of them brought out a sword which was kept in the southern room adjacent to the verandah and cut her neck in the light of the electric torch which had been lighted by the third person.
Manti refused to disclose the names of the culprits and started weeping when she was asked to give out the names.
Reliance was also placed on the circumstance that the footprint of Deo Singh in blood was found close to the scene of occurrence.
141 of 1965 has been brought by special leave by the State of Bihar against the acquittal of Kapil Singh, while Criminal Appeal No.
141 of 1965 and respondent in Cr.
A. No.
142 of 1965 .
Deo Singh was further found guilty of an offence punishable under s. 41 1, I.P.C., and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year.
She told him that Daiya had been cut.
In the inner companyer of the case M. Singh had been written in English and the names of the dealers were also printed on it.
Thereafter.
A. No.
C. Prasad, for the appellant in Cr.
P. Singh, for the respondent in Cr.
Munshi Chaudhary himself, his sons and daughter in law were at Ranchi where one of his sons had been posted as a Block Development Officer.
Two of those persons rushed at her, threw her down on the verandah and inflicted several injuries on her body.
At one stage, one of the thieves suggested that she should also be killed, but another one intervened and suggested that it was unnecessary to companymit her murder.
Subsequently, on 28th June, 1961, Manti and her mother were both produced before a Magistrate who recorded their state ments under section 164, Criminal Procedure Code.
142 of 1965 .
78 of 1968 .
The prosecution case was that, on the night between 17th and 18th June, 1961, Rohini Kuer, who was aged about 60 years, was sleeping on a company in the companyrtyard of her house and, nearby, on a smaller company was sleeping her niece, Manti, who was about 11 years of age.
She got up from her bed, accosted the thieves and also called out to Manti.
Manti pretended to be asleep and did number cry out due to fear.
Manti companytinued lying on her company till dawn when she came out of the house through the hole which had been cut by the thieves and started weeping While she was in the Baithak of Munshi Chaudhary, one Bhagwat Prasad, who was passing by, enquired what the matter was.
They also took away an iron safe.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Bhargava, J. These three appeals all arise out of a trial held by the Additional Sessions Judge of Patna in respect of a charge of murder of an old lady Rohini Kuer, wife of Munshi Chaudhary, residing in village Lohra, Police Station Bakhtiarpur, District Patna.
Rohini Kuer woke up on hearing the sounds, while the miscreants were breaking open the boxes and removing the articles.
C. Prasad, for the appellant in Cr.
Thereafter, they took away cash, clothes and ornaments having broken open several boxes.
141 of 1965 .
Some time during the night, three miscreants entered the female apartment by cutting a hole in the wall on the western side of the companynecting door and began to ransack different rooms of the house.
His finding was that the quilt and the chadar, which were proved stained with human blood, having been recovered from the house of Ramujagar Singh, provided very good companyroboration of the case against him.
In addition, Deo Singh has also companye up to this Court by special leave.
She was, numberdoubt, examined by the Police and her statement was also obtained under s. 164, Cr.
P.C., by producing her before the Magistrate.
141/1965 filed by the State is dismissed, while the appeals of Ramujagar Singh and Deo Singh are allowed, their companyviction and sentences are set aside and they are acquitted of the offences with which they were charged.
