Santosh Sharma vs Vishnu Maheswari & ors. Etc

Lalit Maheshwari, Kishore, Vishnu Maheshwari, Tamatar alias Suresh, Ram Kumar Maheshwari and Amar Singh were charged under Sections 148, 324, 307 read with 149 and 302 read with 149 IPC for causing the death of Kalicharan and causing injuries to the Appellant and others.

The Trial Court convicted Lalit Maheshwari, Vishnu Maheshwari and Kishore under Section 302 read with 34 IPC and sentenced them to undergo rigorous life imprisonment.           Remaining accused were acquitted by the Trial Court. The convicted accused filed an Appeal before the High Court. The State was also in appeal against the acquittal of the other accused. The High Court upheld the conviction and sentence of accused Lalit Maheshwari under Section 302 read with 34 IPC and Section 27 of the Arms Act. He has not challenged the conviction and sentence. The conviction of Vishnu Maheshwari and Kishore under Section 302 read with 34 was set aside by the High Court. However, they were convicted under Section 324/34 IPC and sentenced to the period already undergone. The acquittal of the remaining three accused was upheld by the High Court.

Aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court, the Appellant- Complainant has filed the above appeal.

We have examined the judgments of the Trial Court and the High Court and considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties. The acquittal of Ram Kumar, Amar Singh and Tamatar alias Suresh by the Trial Court which is upheld by the High Court needs no interference as there is no perversity in the findings of the Courts below.

The acquittal of Vishnu Maheshwari and Kishore Maheshwari under Section 302 by the High Court is on the basis of proper appreciation of the evidence on record which is a probable view. Therefore, the appeals are dismissed.