Kusal Toppa vs The State Of Jharkhand

7. The prosecution story in brief is that on 3.12.1999, Truck No. BR-24-M-8171 had gone to Balrampur having loaded the lac of one Adit Sah of Latehar. The truck was returning from Balrampur after unloading the lac in question on 4.12.1999 and reached Ranchi at 4 P.M. The aforesaid truck had picked up its owner Sita Devi from Seva Sadan, Ranchi and proceeded for Latehar. When the truck did not reach Latehar till the morning of 5/12/1999, PW-2, Binod Agrawal (the joint owner of the truck and brother-in-law of Sita Devi, and the informant in this case) tried to search for the truck; in the course of his search he went to the Line Hotel, owned by PW-1, Bindeshwar Sah, situated at Ranchi Road, Kuru where the truck usually used to stop for refreshment for its staff. The informant learnt from the aforesaid hotel owner that his truck had stopped at the hotel on 4.12.1999 at about 6.45 p.m. The driver, Suresh Singh @ Bulet Singh, and the Khalasi (i.e., cleaner of the truck), Jitendra Thakur, had taken four cups of special tea, one for their employer Sita Devi, two for themselves and one 4 for a third person in the truck, but the third person did not take tea and the same was returned. The driver was heard to say that A-2, Mahendra, the third person inside the truck, would not take tea. Thereafter, the truck proceeded for its destination, having taken the owner Sita Devi, the Khalasi Jitendra Thakur, and the third person, Mahendra (apart from the driver himself). The informant also came to know from the hotel owner that an unknown person aged about 25 years had also come to the hotel at 5.00 p.m. on 4.12.1999, who had enquired from the hotel owner whether Suresh Singh @ Bulet Singh, the driver, had come to the hotel with the truck. The hotel owner had replied to the unknown person that the truck had not reached yet. Subsequently, the informant gathered information from others at Kuru that the truck had crossed Kuru Chowk for its destination (i.e. Latehar), but it was hijacked by some criminals near Kuru P.S. and taken away towards the forest. He further came to know that the truck was lying abandoned in Aamjharia Valley with two dead bodies lying near the truck and one dead body of a woman lying inside the cabin of the truck. On such information, he went to Aamjharia Valley and found the truck, where he found the dead body of Sita Devi inside the truck, with her hands tied 5 and neck slit, and the bodies of the driver and Khalasi thrown outside. The informant then went to Kuru P.S. to lodge an FIR, but the police of Kuru P.S. did not entertain his information. He then went to Lohardaga to approach the S.P., who was not available, but the reader of the S.P. told him that the FIR had to be lodged in the Police Station in the jurisdiction of which the dead bodies had been recovered. Therefore, the informant lodged the FIR at Chandwa Police Station on 7.12.1999 at 10 A.M., which is the basis of the case.

the police. As per the testimony of PW-6, the investigating officer in the case, on the basis of the confession of A-3, a rope was recovered from the place of occurrence.

23. In light of the discussion above, we set aside the orders passed by the trial Court as well as by the High Court and acquit the 16 accused from all charges and the appeals are, accordingly, allowed.

24. We appreciate the assistance given by Mr. Annam D.N. Rao, learned Amicus Curiae in disposing of these appeals.