DR.S.MURALIDHAR, J. - (1.)This appeal is directed against the judgment dtd. 31/1/2004, passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Mayurbhanj in Sessions Case No.175 of 2000 convicting the Appellants for the offences punishable under Ss. 302, 307, 452 and 341 read with Sec. 34 IPC. By the impugned order on sentence on the same date, the Appellants were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 IPC and no separate sentence was passed as regards the other offences.
(2.)While Appellant Nos. 2 and 4 were enlarged on bail by an order of this Court dtd. 12/11/2007, Appellant No.1 and Appellant No.3 were enlarged on bail by this Court by orders dtd. 15/2/2010 and 28/10/2015 respectively. The Court is informed subsequently by a report dtd. 21/1/2021 of the Inspector in-Charge (IIC) of Raruan Police Station (PS) that Appellant No.3 has expired.
(3.)The case of the prosecution was that on 8/4/2000, at 8 am when the deceased Keshab Naik was sleeping in his house at village Sunaposi, PS-Raruan, District-Mayurbhanj, the Appellants i.e., accused numbers 1 to 4 dragged him to the village road holding an iron rod, axe and other kinds of deadly weapons and assaulted him with those weapons, thus, murdering him. When Bholanath Naik (P.W.14), the son of deceased Keshab, sought to intervene, he too was assaulted by the accused with iron rod, lathis, axe and curved stick causing him bleeding injuries. Thereafter, the four accused fled away from the spot with their respective weapons. P.W.14 then lost his consciousness and when he regained his senses, he approached a visually challenged person, Chintamani Naik, who gave him some wearing apparels. Thereafter, P.W. 14 went to the house of Dhyana Chandra Behera (P.W.7). He was taken in a scooter to Singda outpost where he verbally reported the matter to the Police, who reduced his version to writing.