Case Facts:
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.404 of 2008 dt.16-07-2012 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Criminal Appeal (DB) No.404 of 2008 =================================================== Manish Kumar son of Parsuram Thakur, resident of village Repura, P.S.Sakara, District Muzaffarpur .... .... Appellant/s Versus The State Of Bihar ... .... Respondent/s with Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 409 of 2008 =================================================== Chandan Kumar son of Ram Binoy Thakur, resident of village Harpur, P.S.Sakra, District Muzaffarpur .... .... Appellant/s Versus The State Of Bihar .... .... Respondent/s with Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 426 of 2008 =================================================== Nagendra Mishra son of Gaya Mishra,resident of village Sutihara, P.S.Mushahari, District Muzaffarpur .... .... Appellant/s Versus The State Of Bihar .... .... Respondent/s with Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 473 of 2008 =================================================== Pankaj Kumar Thakur son of Ram Chandra Thakur, resident of village Repura, P.S.Sakara, District Muzaffarpur .... .... Appellant/s Versus The State Of Bihar .... .... Respondent/s with Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 607 of 2008 =================================================== Nanhaki Chaudhary son of Maksudan Chaudhary, resident of village Dhali, P.S. Sakara, District Muzaffarpur .... .... Appellant/s Versus The State Of Bihar .... .... Respondent/s All the above five appeals are against the judgment of conviction dated 19.03.2008 and order of sentence dated 28.03.2008 passed by Sri Ram Chandra Sahni, Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No. II, Muzaffarpur in Sessions Trial No. 325 of 2002. ------------ Appearance : (In CR.APP (DB) No.404 of 2008) For the Appellant/s :Mr.Saravan Kumar, Sr. Advocate Mr.Pramod Kumar (In CR. APP (DB) No.409 of 2008) For the Appellant/s :Mr Saravan Kumar, Sr. Advocate Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.404 of 2008 dt.16-07-2012 2 Mr. Ambuj Nayan Chaubey Mr. Siddharth Harsh (In CR.APP (DB) No.426 of 2008) For the Appellant/s :Mr.Kailash Nath Diwakar,Advocate (In CR. APP (DB) No.473 of 2008) For the Appellant/s :Mr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan,Sr.Advocate (In CR. APP (DB) No.607 of 2008) For the Appellant/s : Mr. Punam Srivastava Mr. Gyanendra Kumar Singh Mr. Pradeep Kumar Sinha For the Respondent/s: Mr. Ashwini Kumar Sinha, APP (in all the 5 appeals) =================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHYAM KISHORE SHARMA And HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AMARESH KUMAR LAL ORAL JUDGMENT (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHYAM KISHORE SHARMA) Date: 16-07-2012 ----------- Cr.Appeal (DB) No. 404 of 2008 filed by Manish Kumar, Cr.Appeal (DB) no. 409 of 2008 filed by Chandan Kumar, Cr.Appeal (DB) No. 426 of 2008 filed by Nagendra Mishra, Cr.Appeal (DB) No. 473 of 2008 filed by Pankaj Kumar Thakur and Cr.Appeal (DB) No. 607 of 2008 filed by Nanhaki Chaudhary have been taken up together as all the five appeals are offshoot of one judgment of conviction dated 19.03.2008 and order of sentence dated 28.03.2008 whereby learned Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No. II, Muzaffarpur in Sessions Trial No. 325 of 2002 arising out of Town P.S.Case No. 356 of Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.404 of 2008 dt.16-07-2012 3 2000,G.R.Case No.2635 of 2000 held the appellants guilty under [STATUTE] and the appellants were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under [STATUTE] , also rigorous imprisonment for life under [STATUTE] and rigorous imprisonment for five years under [STATUTE] . Accumulative fine of Rs.10,000/- has also been imposed on each of the five convicts. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Along with appellants, two more persons namely, Ratnesh Thakur and Md.Murtuza were also put on trial but the trial court found no evidence against them and they were acquitted. 2. Sub-Inspector of Police, Sakra Police Station, Ram Nath Prasad (P.W.9) was on patrolling duty along with him Constable No. 949 Santosh Kumar Singh (P.W.3), constable No. 979 Dharmendra Kumar Singh (P.W.7), Constable No. 989 Md. Meraj Alam (P.W.8) and Constable No. 574 Kamendra Singh (P.W.4). On 04.12.2000 at 10.00 P.M. they reached Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.404 of 2008 dt.16-07-2012 4 at Pipri Chowk at National Highway No. 28 where a barrier erected for control of crimes. At about 12.15 midnight, the informant spotted one vehicle coming rashly towards town. It was indicated through the flash of torch light to stop the vehicle but the driver of the vehicle wanted to speed up the vehicle in order to escape from the clutches of police. In the meanwhile, two police personnels namely, Santosh Kumar Singh (P.W.3) and Meraj Alam (P.W.8) anyhow entered into the vehicle and they succeeded in stopping the vehicle. Thereafter, the informant and other police personnels entered into the vehicle for checking and they found some persons sitting there and a dead body of a boy was found lying beneath the seat in back portion of the vehicle having some injuries. Thereafter, the persons present in the bus started fleeing away but only one person succeeded in escaping through emergency gate of the bus. Out of six, five persons remained in the bus and they detailed themselves as Pankaj Kumar Thakur son of Ramchandra Thakur, Manish Kumar son Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.404 of 2008 dt.16-07-2012 5 of Parsuram Thakur, Nanhaki Chaudhary son of Maksudan Chaudhary, Nagendra Mishra son of Gaya Mishra and Chandan Kumar son of Ram Binay Thakur. All five were arrested. Pankaj Kumar Thakur disclosed that they were doing the work on behalf of Ratnesh Thakur son of Vivekanand Thakur and another one Murtuza who were lodged inside the jail. The first information report discloses that on 02.12.2000 at 5.00 P.M. Md.Chand and Md.Hira reached the house of Pankaj Kumar Thakur on a motorcycle along

Applicable IPC Section: 201

Statute Text:
Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code. Causing disappearance of evidence of an offence committed, or giving false information touching it to screen the offender, If a capital offence. Whoever, knowing or having reason to believe that an offence has been committed, causes any evidence of the commission of that offence to disappear, with the intention of screening the offender from legal punishment, or with that intention gives any information respecting the offence which he knows or believes to be false; if a capital offence — shall, if the offence which he knows or believes to have been committed is punishable with death, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine; if punishable with imprisonment for life — and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment which may extend to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine; if punishable with less than ten years imprisonment — and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment for any term not extending to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of the description provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one-fourth part of the longest term of the imprisonment provided for the offence, or with fine, or with both.