€i CF0000059931 >- /?• ^ \ fllvfeion Bench ^.CtiiraW) SM THB OO^tT ©IJl^I^AS'um, PRABSSH ^ <JABI&Pf^ o SKMBAfo S©«| £5^ OP Xtt@ • ' .:.,;' ^ 1» Baliram axagh/ son of Karpda^- 6' ^' ^ w ^' ^—, ,/•' feA-»-<^ <k<Ti. ^>! d Olfft*-*!W*Wf:V \ftr^ -AAc,xAl5 \f} I1 ^' ^ Sit"igte4Ba,|pu^ 4.1 r@a.r^.. reai-deat -^iR y^li^e Stafel®!Matea«i.y?mr^. M^&.ilQt .JafawiA^d^ Biha.r* 'Zf Sanjay Kmia,jr ®.fcBgto,'@en©f •s1'" _ . -;:•' Baliraa Si'iigfo^ ag'ed. 2 S yeara.^ r^^id^a'fc -^€ BAsbr<iimpur Depaxrt- ^ental Go.1oay Quarfeer.. B€)-»S@ 3^ gx^nr^npur^ ' P^iAoe- '.g.tatian Jai Ka^ay^ ©istd^t@atg'^J%+ Tbe Stat@ o£ Madftya ^^^^^ t"' ;yA^j ^^•^ ^^ ^.^w ^9^ * * . RISaPCrSDSNT eiUMlHA[,_.A23]3SAA4,._iMMX...iSOTIGN .374(2) ©5'TI®QOW ©F^KEM^NM,PlteOSOT® -i! -'A: ^ ^:-' '^ ^ ^ ^ •• ^-p ./? >-rf3 HiGH COURT OF JUDICA7URE AT BILASPUR. CHHATnSGARrt {DSVISION BENCW Criminal Appeai No.1578 of 1996 Surendra Tiwarl - Versys - State ofMadhya Pradesh (ncw Chhattisgarh) CrimlnaJ Appea! No.1684 of 1996 Baliram Singh and another - Versus ~ State ofMadhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) Crimsnal Appeal No. 1736 of 1996 Surendra Singh and another - Versus - State ofMadhya Pradesh (ncw Chhattisgarh) Criminal ADpeaI No. 1738 of 1996 Raviranjan Kumar Singh - Versus - State ofMadhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) Crirjiirsal Appeal No. 1884 of Mohan Singh - \fersys - State ofMadhya Pradesh (nc^w Chhattisgarh) AND Criminal Appeal No.2347 of. 1996 Raj Kumar alias Shivji Singh and others - Ver_sus - State ofMadhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) v^ JUDGMENT FOR CONSIDERA710N HON'BLE MR. JUS71CE DHERENDRA MISHRA Sd/- ~JIU'D'G-E- 1-3-2006 Sd/- Dhirendra Mishra Judge POST FOR JUDGIVIENT ON ^D JWRCH. 2006 Sd/-- L.C. Bhadoo Judge ^ <^r ,w ^. Vr'-:-^ HI€HCOURT OF JU&ICATURE AT BILASPUR. CHHATTIS^ARH Criminol Aweal N®.1578 of 1996 Surendra Ti^ari - Versus - . State of Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) Criminol Ao^ed N@. 1694 of 1996 Bdsram Singh and .another - Versus - State of Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) Criininal Awed No. 1736 of 19% Surendra Singh and another - Versus - State of AAadhya Pradesh (now Chhatti^9arh) Ci'-iminal At»p©ialNo.l73a ef 19% Ravlranjan Kumar Singh - Versus - State of Madhya Pradesh (no^ Chhattlsgarh) Criminal Awed No. 1884 of 1996. Mohan Singh " Versug - State of ^adhya Pradesh (now Ckhattisgarh) ANb Cnmind Appeai No. 2347 of 1996 RaJ Kumar aiias Shivji Singh and others - Versus - Stat^ of Madhya Prddesh (now Chhattis9arh) PreA(snt."" ~ • • Aft,r. V.K, Pandey, Advocates r. Surendra Singh, Senior Advocate with Mr, Ne^raj ehta, Advocates For the sppeilant in Cr.A.No.1578/1996. For the appellonts in Cr.^.Nos. 1694/1996 and 2347/1996. Page2of29 4.. ^t '^ Mr^. SavitaTiwari, Advocate; AB1r. Vi^hnu Ko^hta, Advocate? Mr. M.&. bhote, ^dvoeat®! fflr". U.N.S. beo, Addl. Pubilc Prosecutor with Mr. Ravitidro Agrawat/ Panef Lawyer; Mr. ya^hwant Tiwarl, Advocate with Mr. Amiyakanit Tiwari, Advocate; For thc appeilant^ in Cr.A.No.1736/1996. For the eppeitant in Cr.A.No.1738/1996. For the appellant in Cr.A.No.1884/1996. For the State/respondent. For Bank of Baroda, Ambikapur. DIVISION BENCH; - HON'BLE W. l.C. BHADOO ANb HON'BLE MR. DHIREN&RA MISWA^LJ, JUD^MENT (Deiivered on 2nd March, 20)6) The folioyyinc? Judqment of the Court was delivered by Z..^a Bhcsd^^^ Ji - 1. Crlminal Appeai No. 1578/1996 file-d by Surendra Ti^ari; Criminai Appeai No.1694/1996 filed by B-aliram Singh & Sanjay Kumar Singh; Criminai Appeai No.1736/1996 fil^d by Surendra Singh & Devniuni Boi; Criminai Apped No. 1738/1996 fiied by Raviranjan Kumar Singh; Criminal Appeal No.l884/1996< fiied by Atehon Singh and Criminal Appeal No. 2347/1996 fibd by Raj KumGr aiias Shiyji Singh, <&ouri Shankar Singh, Devendra Kumar Singh & Arvind Singh are being disposed of by thi^ common judgm^nt, a^ all these appeds are arising out of the judgment dated 9"9" 1996 pa^sed by the l^ Additional Ses^ion^ Judge, Ambikapur, in Sessions Tria! No. 245/95 and abo arising out of the same incident dated 28-4-1995, whereby a dacoity i^as committed in Bank of Baroda/ Branch; Devi &anj Road, Ambikapur. 2. The accused/appellant&' have prefiBrred these criminal' appe'als questioning legality and correctness of the judgment of conviction and ardcr of sentence dated 9-9-1996 passsd by the l Additionai Sessions Judge, Ambikapur/ in Sessions Triai'No. 245/95, whereby learned Additionai Session^ Judge convicted and sentenced them as under; ~ Page3of29 ?;>' ^' ^.- <. Learngd AdditionoJ Sessions Judge further directed that ai! the sentenc^s a^arded to each accu^ed ^haii run concurrentiy and also directed that the detention period of each accus'ed s'hail be set of again^t the sentences impos'ed- upon them. 3. The pro^ecutjon ca.se, in brief, is that on 28-4-1995 at about 12.35 p.m. accused person^ Roj Kumar Slngh, 6rouri Shankar Singh, Arvind Singh, Devendra Singh & RaviranJGn Singh committed dacoity in Bank of Baroda situated on the first fioor on Devi ^anj Road, Ambikapur, at the 90^ point and looted an amount to the tune of Rs.6,37,560/-, These accused per^ons entered the Bank armed wth country mQde pistois/Deshi Katta and one ofthe associates s^itched offthe main electric switch ofth^ Bank, even then therc Natffie of th@ ^ccuscd Offetice ynder whsch convietcd Seiitetic^ ityipes^ Raj Kumar Singh, .&ouri Shankar Singh, Arvind Singh, Devendra SIngh and Raviranjan Singh Section 4SOof the I.P.C. R.I. for 10 years ©ach. Section 395 read with Section 397 ofthe I.P.C. Ufe imprisonment to eoch of the accused. Section 120-8 of the I.P.C. Life imprisonment to each of the dccusgd. Sections'25& 27ofthe Arms-Act R.I. for 3 years to each of the accused und^r each head. Surendra Singh & Sanjay Singh Section 120-B ofthe I.P.C. Life imprisonmBnt to each of the accused. Section412oftheI.P.C. Life imprisonment to each of the occusea, Ssctions 25 & 27 of the Arm^ Act R»I. for 3 years' to each of the accused under each head. AAohan Sin9h, Ba!iram Singh A Devmuni Bd Section 120-B of the I.P.C. Life imprisonment to each of the accused. Ssction 412 of the I.P.C. Life impri^onment to each of the accused. Surendra Ti^ari Section 120-B of the I.P.C. Life imprisonment. Section 201 of the I.P.C. R.I. for 3 ycars. Page4of29 ^/ L l^ ^as naturai iight. Accused Arvind Singh reach^d near Vipin Kishore Lakra (PWml)/ who was sitting at the cash counter/ and at the pisto! point asked him to 9^t up from the seat and come in the hali. Thereafter, accu^d Arvind Singh aiso took another cashier Smt. /lAanrrl-aChakravarty (PWM2) in the hailat the pistoi point. At that time, Branch Atonager Suresh Kumar Agra^al (PWW 10) wa^ sitting in his chamber i^ith one Vijay Jaiswa!/ Accu^ed Raj Komar Singh armed with country rrsade pistoi entered the chamber of Branch A^anager and asked himto 90 in the hali, When Sur^sh Kumar Agra^ai tried to make telephone caEi, accused Raj Kumar Singh caught hoid ofhimfromhis collar and dra9ged him to the mdn hai! from hi^ chaniber. Three dacoits i^re already standing there armed wth country mo.de pistols surrounding the persons. Suresh Kumar AgrG^al SQW that accused Ravjronjan Singh was ^tanding at the main gQte of the Bank- When accu^ed Gouri Shankar Singh ^nquired from Suresh Agra^ai about the bcation of strong room then he Informed him that strong room is in the ground fioor. When &ouri Shankar Singh a^ked for key, Sure^h Agra^at replied that he is not in po&^e^^ion of key on which &ouri Shankar as^auited i^ith the butt ofthe pistoi on the head of Suresh Agra^al as a result of ^rhich blood ^tarted oozing out of the injury. In the rnean time, accu&'ed Devendra Singh <& Arvind Singh ^'ent towards the cagh counter, picked up the bundies of currency note^ and filled them in G green colour bag. When the accu^ed person^ ^tarted going to^ards the strong room ahnq with Sures'h Kumar Agrawai, one of the accused threat-ened Suresh Kumar that he wiH be shot daad on which he became frightened, inthe mean time, the ciccused who was gtanding at the main gate ^tarted shouting that two persons have gone out. Hearing this, the accused p^rsons fied away from the place of occurrence with looted currBncy notes. 4 By coincidence, Head Constable Saeed Hu^sdn (PW-5) vras present at ©yanodayStationery bookshop to purchase a diary. When he heard nolse in the Bank/ he ^topped his scooter and ^aw that t^o person^ were coming oirf" of the Bank firing shots from their country rnade pisto!s and gat on a motorcycie, in the mean time, third person dso came, he aiso sat on the motorcycle and fied away from the scene of occurrence on a motorcycb. Saeed Hus^ain chased them on scooter. At Sa^am Chowk, he got a jeep of Supply Despartment of the <&ovt. of AAadhya Prade^h, he stopped the jeep/ s'at in the Page5of29 "^: c^ l^ ^ driver geat and storted chasing the dacoits by the said jeep to^ards Airtannendra9arh Roacl. One &anesh Singh (PW-7) ^as also in thejeep, Vi/hen the accused pers^ns reached near Punjab ©arden,they fired a shot on the jeep ^ith the country made pistol, which hit in between both th^ headiights of the Jeep. The accused persons took turn on a Kacha road golng towards Viilage^ Mahavirpur. After some distance, the motorcycb siipped and all the three accused persons fell down and started running on foot to^ards th@ forest. In th^ mean time, the &ypsy jeep of the Superintend^nt of Police/ Ambikapur also came and Sa^ed Hussdn apprised hinn about the location of the accused persons. The accused persong/ who ^ere sitting on th^ motorcycle, were Raj Kumar Singh, Arvind SIngh & Devendra Singh. 5. Hearing the screams of Bank em^phyee^ and customers, ^ornebodytelephoned in Police Station^ Amblkapur thot dacoity has bcen committed in the Bank on whicb. As^istont Sub Inspector Duryodhan Banjare (PWm23) reached to the Bank aiong with his staff and met Branch A^anager Suregh KumQr Agra^al^tso gave the report (Ex.P-8) and based on that report/the F.I.R. (Ex.PB"38) was r^gistersd, Sure^h Agrawai ^a^ sent for medicai examination to the hospita!/ where Dr. Ashok Kumar Bansal (PW-14) examined him and pr^pared the examination report (Ex.P-24). Additionai Superintendent of Police Thakur aiong ^ith Vipin Kishore Kujur (PW-25) ^tarted cha3;in9the dacoits on ajeep and on mreless fitted in the Jeep they received information that tha dacoits have ran a^ay towards Mahavirpur. On reaching Viilage^ Mahavirpur, they came to know fromthe viilagers that the dacoits have ran toward^ Pilkha hiii. 3 kms. ahead frorn the viiiage, a motorcyci^ was found Sying th^re ^hich ^as taken into poiicy custody under Ex.P-18 and they proceeded further. Some encounter took piace between the Policeparty and the dacoit^, 6rouri Shankor Singh, one of the dacoits, ww caught there and currency notes i^orth Rs.^3,000/"" a!on9 i^ith one country made pistol 315 bore &4 cartrid9es ^ere recovered from him and taken into possession under Ex.P-20. 6, Head Constabie Kanti Prasad (PW-16) caught dacoit Raviranjan Singh near Pilkha hil! and recovered currency notes ^orth R^70000/M with one country made pisto!, 6 iive cartridges and 2 ©mptycartridges, same were taken into possession under Ex.Pwl9. ^ Page6of29 ^' ^^~- ^c 7 Sub Inspector N.P. Upadhyay (PW'W26) who wa5 givin9 evidence in a case inthe Court of Judidal Magistrate, Rrsit Ciass, Ambikapur, abo left towards ' Manendragarh road on a jeep andl he came to knoi^ through wreless that the Superintendisnt of Poiice is also proceeding towards AAanendragarh road, H^ afong wth the S.P. proceeded towards Mahavirpur road and they found a motorcycie. They were informed by the vilhgers that the motorcycle In question has been ieft by the dacoit^ and they have ran to^ards the forest. Motorcycle, one military colour bag, another bag, one iock d one key ^ere taken into po^session under Ex.P-22. Thereafter, they proceeded furt-her and caught accused Arvind Singh. On search, one country made pistol, 5 live cartridges, one empty cartridge and currency notes of Rs.50 & Rs.l%3/w denominations werc taken into po^^ession und^r Ex.PW6. At that time, the dacoits started firirsg and N.P. Upadhyay, S<P., Additionai S.P., <& Constable Jagjivan Rom received injurie^. When N.P. Upadhyay ^as proceeding further, he found one injured person dacoit Devendra Sin9h and from him he recovered one country mode pistol, 5 iive cartridges, Rs.70,CKX)/m & one pass book, sarn6! were taken into posses^ion under Ex.P-23. On enquiry/ dacoit Devendra Singh informed thot Raj Kumar Singh has ran a^ay. Vl/hen the Poiice party came on the road, people informed themthat one person had ran away to^ords Jdnagor. Arvind Singh wo.3 called there- Accused ArvindSingh i& D^vendra Singh informed that owner of Poonam Lodge Surendra Singh and Devmuni Bd wer'e atso party to the dacoity. Heeramani &autam (PWW20) and others reached to Poonam Lodge from where they went to the house of Surendra Singh and an amount of Rs,86,7CX)/-, OH€country made pistol and 5 iive cartridges ^ere taken into posse^^Jon from accused SurendrQ Singh under Ex.P-32. From accu^ed Devmurti Bai an omount of Rs,78/619/w on which slip bearing impression of Bank of Baroda ww recovereei 8. Bhoodhar Prasad bwivedi (PW-18), Station House Officer, Poiice Station: Jainagar, when came to know about the dacoity on wircie^ at about 2.30 p.rn. to 3 p.m. ^tarted patroiling & checking of vehicies. At ©bout8.35 p.m. ^hen they stopped and checked the bus of Sharda Bu^ Service, Gccused Raj Kumar Singh ^as found sitting in the bus and from his possession/currency notes ^orth Rs.70,(XX)/w ^rhich ^ere boted fromthe Bank, one country made pistol Page7of29 <;: A 4 live cartridge^ ^ere recovered and taken into po^es^ion undsr Ex.P-SL B.P. D^ivedl (PW-18) also came to know that some accysed persons are aJso sitting In the house of accused Mohan Singh. On raid in accused A^.ohan Singh^ house, accused Sonjay Singh, BalirGm Singh <& A^ohan Sin9h were found. From accused Sanjay Singh, an amount of Rs.55,000/- ^ith one country made pisto! and four cortridge^ wcre taken into possse^ion under Ex.P-30. From accu^ed Baliram Singh/ Rs.20,000/- WQ^ recovered under EX.P- 31 ond from accu^ed Mohan Singh ai^o, R^.20,000/'n ^a^ recovered under Ex.P-29. 9. One pair of Chappa! ieft' by the accused dacoits in the Bank ^a^ taken into posse^sion under Ex.P-36. One bag containing currency notes of Rs.50/w denominotion, which WQ.S lying on th^ road in front of Saheli Storeg, ^as tAen into po^se^sion under Ex.P-37, One slipper of th©docoits ^a^ taken into posses^ion under Ex.P-39 from the staircase of the Bank. Currency not^s of Ks.5/- & Rs.lO/- denominations ^ere taken Into possession from the Bank, which werte lying on the f!oor. 10. N.P. Upadhyay (PW-26) ai^o took into possession the blood ^tained cbthes of Branch ^Aanager Suresh Kumar Agrai^a! (PWM10) und^r Ex.P-3 andthe saniple biood, whichwo.^ tying on the fbor ofthe Bank/ ^as abo tak^n into possession under Ex-P~5. Addresses of arrested accu^ed persons ^ere got vgrified under Ex.P-Z 11. Injured Police party ^as examined by Dr. Ashok Kumar Jai^^al (PW-15) and he prepared the injury reports Exs.P-25, P-26, P-27& P">28. Idgntification of the accused persons ^a^ got conducted by Additionai Tehsildar Mrs. Shakuntala Sharrna (PW-4) and mernorandum Ex.P-1 ^as prepared in ^hich accused per^on^ RavirGnjan Singh, Devendra Kumar Singh, Arvind Singh, RQJ Kumar Singh & Gowi Shankar Singh wcre correctiy icientified by Suresh Kumar Ayo.w^} (PW-10), Raghunath Sharan Bajpd (PWW>6), Vipin Ki^horeLokra (PW-l), Smt. Mamta Chakravarthy (PW-M25 & Satyanarayanan. Recovered articles were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Sagar, under Ex.P-57. Hand^ritin9 & ^ignatures were sent to the Handwriting Expert, Bhopai under Ex.P-58. The accused per^ons: were not having licence to posses&' the arms, therefore, a sanction to prosecute them was obtained from the District Page8of29 AAagistrate (Coilector) under Ex.P-59, Reports ofthe F.S.L. Exs. P.60 <& P-61 were received. 12. Aft-er completion of investigation, charge sheet ^as filed in the Court of Judicia! Magistrate, Ambikapur, who in turn committed the case to th© Sessions Judge, Ambikapur, from where tearnsd 1 Additiona! Sessions Jud9€,Ambikapur, received the cas'e on tronsfer for triaL 13. The prosecution exammed in a!! 27wtness@^. On the other hand, statements of the accused per^ons ^ere recorded under Sectlon 313 of the Cr.P.C. in ^hich they denied the prosecution evidence and examined Pancham Pandey (DW-1), Triveni Singh (DW-2), Uttam Sinha (DW-3), Pradeep Nautlya! (&W- 4), ManoJ Sin9h (&W-5), Shivji Mishra (DW-6), Umashankar OJha (DW-7) & Sudhir Pandey (DW"B8) in thdr defence. 14. Learned Additsonal Se^sions Jud9e after hearing the argumsnts of Additlond Pubiic Prosecutor and counse! for the accused persons convicted and sentenced each of the accused as mentioned in para 2 of thi^ judgment. 15. We have heard A¥.Surendra Singh, learned Semw Advocate with Mr. NeeraJ Mehta on behalf of accused/appeliants Bafiram Singh, Sanjay Kumas-t Singh, Raj Kumar @ Shivji Singh, &ouri Shankar' Singh, Devendra Kumar Singh & Arvind SEngh; Mr.MD. Dhote, iearned counse! for accused/app^Siant ^ohan Singh; AAr. Vishnu Koshta, iearned counsel for accused/app^flant Raviranjan Sin9h; Mrs. Savito Tiwari/ learned counsel for accu^d/appeilants Surendra Singh & bevmuni Bai; Mr. V.K. Pandey, iearned couns^E for accused/appeEiant Surendra Tiwari; A<lr. U.N.S. Deo, tearned Additiona! Pubiic Pro^ecutor vrith /rir. Ravindra Ayawal, learned Pane! La^er ©n behalf of the State/ respondent; and ^r. yash^ant Tii^ari, Jearned Advocate wth AAr- Amiyakant Ti^ari for Bank of Baroda, Ambikopur. 16. In this case, the main accused who committed the dacoity in Bank of Baroda on 28-4"" 1995 were the occused/appeilants nameiy/ Raj Kumar © Shivji Singh (A-l), Bouri Shankar Singh (A-2), Devendra Kumw Singh (A-3), Arvind Singh (A-7) & Raviranjan KunriQr Singh (A-n9). They have been convict^d for commission of offence punishabie under Sectiong 120-MB,450<Si395r^Gdwith Section 397 of the I.P.C. and Sections 25 & 27ofthe Arms Act. Learned % Page9of29 64•V-. Senior Advocate Mr. Surendra Singh appearing on behoif of accused/ appellants Raj Kumar ©Shivji Singh (A~l), &ouri Shankar Singh (AM2), Devendra Kumar Singh (A-3) & Arvind Singh (A-7) and Mr. Vishnu Koshta, learned counsei Qpp^aring on behaif of accusgd/appeltant Raviranjan KumQr Singh sybmitted that fromthe evidence avdlabie on record/ offences QgQJn^t the^e persons have been estabiished and most ofthe accused are in custody since around about llyears.therefore/their sentences be: reduced to alr^ady undergone, as looking to the nature of th^ offence they have aiready ^erved more than the sentence^ normally impo^ed in such acrime. 1Z In order to estabiis'h charge againstthe accused/GppeiIant^.the pro^ecution ha^ adduced the evidence of Vipin Kishore Lakra (PW"-1) <& Smt. Mamta Chakravarthy (PW-2) who were ^orking a^ Cierk-cum-Cashler <& Head Cashier, respectiveiy, in the Bank on the reievant day. Raghunath ShQran Bajpd (PW- 6) was working in the Bank a^ Joint AAanager and Suresh Kumar A9rawal (PWm 10) ^a^ working as Branch ^Aanager. Vipin Kishore Lakra (PW-l) & Smt. MantQ Chakravarthy (PWM2) have categoricaliy ^tated in their evidence that on 28- 4-1995 theywere workmg as Cashier & Head Cashjer in Bank of Baroda. In be^wcen 12.30 p.m. and 12.45 p.m. when they were busy in thdr work one person carrying country made pistol in his hand cGme, iight ofthe Bank ^as smtched off from the main ^wtch, one person armed ^fjth a pistol in his hond came on the wmdaw of ca^h counter of Vipin Kishore Lakra and after pointing the pistol to^ards him asked him to come out from the. se^at, he aiso threatened himto come out immediateiy, other^ise he wil! kiil him and he took him to the c^nter of the BanL He also took the customers in the center of the BanS< and threatened them not to move/ thereafter he went to^ards the tabie of the payment counter. Another person aiso ^ent to^ards the payn^nt counter and they started filiing currency notes in a 9reen coiour bag. One person ©nteredthe cabin of Branch AAanager Suresh AgrawaE and after catching hoid of him by his collar took him out of the chamber and started demonding the keys of strong room. When the ^.anager denied about the keys then that person assaulted the AAanager ^ith the butt of the country ma.de pistol as a result of ^hich biood started oozing out ofthe: injury ofthe head. One dacoit WQ^ standing at the gate and he told that two person^ have gone out, therefore, they ^hould go eariy and thereafter, the dacoits fied Pagel0of29 ^- a^ay. Thi^ witngss (PW-1) has further stated that on 29"4W1995, the lady Additional Tehsildar conducted identification parade and after compietion of the identification parade/identification memo Ex.P-1 was prepared which bears his signature. Afrer pointing towards accused Arvind Singh, PW-1 stated that he came to his counter and after indicating toward^ bevendra Singh he stated thot he %?as th©oth^r per^on who came to the counter after crossing the tab!e. Th©dacoit who ^as coliecting persons at the center hal!, ot the pistoi point wa^ Raj Kumar Sin9h. After pointing towards &ouri Shankdr Sin9h, he stated that he wa^ the dacoit who attackcd Suresh AgrGwaI, the Branch ^AanGger. After pointing towards dacoit Ravjranjan Kumar Singh/ this ^itnes^ indicated that he was ^tanding at the gate ofthe Bank. 18. The above evidence has been corroborated by Smt. MamtaChGkravcrthyCPW- 2), Raghunath Sharan Bajpai (PW-6) and Suresh Kumar Agrawal (PW-10). Al! these witnesses have abo proved the Jdgntification m^mo Ex.P-l, ^hich was prepared by the Additional Tehsildar a'fter conductin9 the identification parade on 29-4-1995 in the Electr'icity Qoa^ds Office. 19. Smt. Shakuntala Sharma (PW-4)/ the then Additional Tehs'iidar, Ambikapur, has' ^tated in her evidence that the identification parade wras conducted on 29-4-1995 in the OffEce of AAadhya Pradesh Electricity Board in the evening at about 4 p.m» and the accused per^ons weree correctly identified by SX. A9ftcwa!, R.S. Bojpai, Vipin Kishore, Si^t. AAanTi'aChakravarthy&SatYanarcyan. 20. Apart from the above evidence of the eyewitnesses, compiicity of the accused persons in the crime In question is cil^o established from the fact that after committing the robbery th^ accu^ed per^ons fled the ^cene of occurrence/ they ^ere chased by Saeed Hussain (PW-5), Head Constabie ^ho as a matter of coincidence came to the stationary shop namely &yanoday Stationery^hich WQS near the Bank to purchase a diory and he ga^that three accused per^ons namely, Arvind Singh, Raj Kumar @ Shivji Singh & Devendra Singh, ran away on the motorcycie. He chaeed them on a jeep of the Supply Department of the &ovt. of Madhya Pradesh. &anesh Singh had abo accompanied Saeed Hussain in the Jeep. When the jeep reached near Punjab 6arden on ^anisndra9arh Road/ the accused dacoits fired ghot on the J€;€p,^hich hit in e'y Page 11 of29 x:- front of the jeep between the two h@ad lights and thereafrer, they turned towards the Kacha road of Mahavirpur. Aftcr som^ distance, the motorcycie siipped and they started running by foot to^ards the forest. In the mean time, Superintendent of Police A^hok Chaudhari aiso came on a gyp^y and he also chased the dacoit^. As per thg evidence of Radhey KrishnQ Gupta (PW~ ll)/the motorcycle beoring No.MP-27/5052 WQS taken into possegsion in his pre^ence under Ex.P-18. Afrer some tim^/ near Pilkha hill, dacoit Raviranjan Kumar Singh, who was standing at the gate of the Bank while committin9 fhe dacoity, WQ.S caught and a country made pi^tol of two barrel, 6 iive cartridges & currency note^ bearing the seal of Bank of Baroda ^as taken into posse^Jon from his custody under Ex,Pwl9 and an amount of Rs.68,000/- was recovered from him. 21. Kanti Pra^ad (PWml6)/ Head Constable, has olso stated in hi^ evidence that on 28-4-1995 at about 3.40 p.ni. neor Piikha hill he caught accused RQviranJan Singh in the presence of Radhey Kri^hnca 6upta & A^ukurdhari Singh and G country mo.de pisto! of 2 borrel 315 bore, 6 jive cartrjdges, 2 empty cartridges and curr^ncy note^ ^ere r^covered under Ex.P-19. 22. Froni accu^ed 6rouri Shankar Singh, currency notes ^orth Rs!.83,000/-andon^ country made pistol of 315 bore abng ^ith 4 iive cartridges were recovered near Piikha hiil Vipin Kishore Kujur (PWn-25), Sub Inspector, has ^tated in hig evidence thot motorcycie wa.^ taken into po^ession under Ex.P-18 Qnd thereaft^r at about 5.40 p.m. dacoit &ouri Shankar Singh ^as cGught and from him one country made pisto! of 315 bore aiong ^ith 41ive cartridges and an amount of Rs. SO.CXX)/- was recovered under Ex.Paa20. Radhey Kri^hna fiupta (PW-11) has stated that from accused &ouri Shankar Singh one country made pi^toi of 315 bore aiong ^ith 4 live cartrid9es and Rs,80,000/- were recovered under Ex.P-20, 23.Ambika Singh (PW-12) has stated in his evidence that on 28-4-1995 near Police Station; JainGgar checking ^as conducted by Inspector B.P. D'j^wdi and during checking in one mini-bus of Sharda Travels, accused Raj Kumar Singh ^os caught and from his po^session one country made pistoi of 315 bore, 4 live