Shahid Khan vs State Of Rajasthan

3. Aggrieved by this conviction and sentence, accused nos. 2 to 5 preferred appeal being DB Criminal Appeal No.1001 of 2003, before the High Court of Rajasthan at Jaipur Bench. During pendency of appeal, appellant/A3 Irfan Ali died and his appeal abated. The High Court by its judgment dated 20.12.2006 dismissed the appeal preferred by the appellants. Challenging the same accused nos.2, 4 and 5 have preferred present appeals.

4. The prosecution case as it discerned from the records is briefly, as follows : PW 19 Anil Kumar Jain is the brother of deceased Ashok Kumar. On 22.1.2001 he submitted Exh. P34 complaint at Police Station Kotwali Jhalawar stating that Ashok Kumar was looking after the factory of Kota stones and the contract of royalty of toll tax was obtained by Abdul Khalid in which his brother Ashok Kumar was also a partner. It is further stated that Khalid was arrested for committing the murder of Kallu and Ashok Kumar gave assistance to Khalid. Due to this reason on 22.1.2001 companions of Kallu came to the factory and murdered Ashok Kumar. It is further stated therein that as per the information provided by PW 20 Lal Chand the accused were five in number and they caused injuries to Ashok Kumar with sword and knife. PW 25 Mirza Majid Beg came from Kota to Jhalawar to meet Ashok Kumar on the occurrence day, and he and his driver PW 24 Mohamed Shakir saw the occurrence in which the accused inflicted injuries with weapons on Ashok Kumar. Due to fear they hid themselves in the factory. PW 19 Anil Kumar Jain took injured Ashok Kumar in the Maruti car to hospital at Jhalawar where he was declared dead. On the written complaint of PW 19 Anil Kumar Jain a case under Sections 147, 148 302/149 and 448 IPC was registered and investigation commenced. PW 17 Dr. Arvind Kumar Bohra conducted autopsy on the body of Ashok Kumar and found the following ante-mortem injuries:

5. The investigation officer examined the witnesses, arrested the accused and recovered weapons by drawing the necessary memos and on completion of the investigation filed the charge-sheet. The Sessions Court on framing of charges conducted the trial in which prosecution examined 28 witnesses and marked documents and the defence examined 2 witnesses on their side. The trial court acquitted accused No.1 of all the charges and convicted accused Nos. 2 to 5 as stated supra. On appeal the High Court confirmed the conviction and sentence. Aggrieved by the same the present appeals have been preferred.

9. The prosecution case is that the appellants (Accused Nos.2, 4 and 5) alongwith other accused inflicted injuries with sword and knife to Ashok Kumar. During the trial PW 20 Lal Chand, PW 24 Mohammad Shakir and PW 25 Mirza Majid Beg were examined as having witnessed the occurrence. PW 20 Lal Chand did not support the prosecution case and was declared hostile. PW 25 Mirza Majid Beg in his testimony has stated that on 22.1.2001 he started from Kota at 10 O’ clock and reached Jhalawar at about 12 O’ clock in his Maruti Van driven by his driver PW 24 Shakir and halted for 5-10 minutes in the Toll Post and then went to the factory of Ashok Kumar to meet him and on reaching there they heard the sound of crying and they got down from the vehicle and ran inside the factory and saw accused no.2 Banti and accused no.4 Shahid Khan with daggers in their hand and accused no.5 Mansoor with Gupti type weapon and all the accused were attacking Ashok Kumar with the said weapons. According to him he and his driver stood adjacent to the quarter wall inside the factory and saw the occurrence and thereafter they ran away from the said place to Toll Tax and boarded a tanker lorry and reached the hospital at Jhalawar and they found their Maruti vehicle parked in the hospital and they drove from there directly to Kota in the said vehicle. It is the testimony of PW 24 Mohamed Shakir that on 22.1.2001 he drove the Maruti van of PW 25 Mirza Majid Beg from Kota to Jhalawar and when they reached the factory of Ashok Kumar they heard the sound of crying and both of them got down and rushed inside the factory and saw the appellants and other accused attacking Ashok Kumar with knife and they ran to the backside of the factory and hid themselves near the wall and after 5- 10 minutes they came out and went to the Toll Tax check post and by taking a lift in a truck they reached Jhalawar hospital and on seeing their car there, both of them drove back to Kota.

12. Consequently, the appeals are allowed and the conviction and sentence of the appellants is hereby set aside. The appellants are on bail. Their bail bonds shall stand discharged.

March 02, 2016