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24. P.W.3 is Nagendra Prasad Mahto, who is the Junior Engineer of Irrigation Department. He stated that he accompanied Kashinath and Dilip and they went to search Shiv Pujan Mahto, who was called by Dhiraj Mahto in the morning to accompany him to go to Gangti Police Station. He stated that as Shiv Pujan Mahto did not return. So, they went in search of him. He stated that when they reached near the Bihari Tank, they saw Shiv Pujan coming by a cycle and when he reached near Bihari Field near the Mango Tree, 10-15 persons surrounded him and Koila and Dev Narayan Mahto caught hold of the cycle and Jitu Mahto assaulted Shiv Pujan with Garasa and Shyam Lal Mahto struck him with a chheoni on the head. Shiv Pujan fell down then Sadanand Thakur, Gopal Mahto, Budhinath Mahto, Yogeshwar Mahto, Beloon Mahto pinned down Shiv Pujan on the road and then Parmanand severed the head by a chheoni. 6-7 unknown persons chased these witnesses and others, so they fled towards Bihari Village. This witness saw that the accused persons were going towards the east after shouting slogans of "Shanti Pal" and they also started throwing pamphlets. They, thereafter, went and saw the dead body and found that the blood was present there on the ground and part of chheoni was also found there. Police came and Dilip got his fardbeyan recorded. He identified the signature of Dilip. He identified Parmanand Mahto, Jitu Mahto, Shyam Lal Mahto, Sadanand Thakur, who were present in Court. He stated that the date of occurrence was a Sunday and he came to his house after taking permission from the S.D.O. He denied the suggestion that he was not present at the place of occurrence and just for the sake of posing as an eye witness, he has falsely stated that after obtaining permission, he had come to the village. He stated that after the occurrence, several persons started coming after half an hour and the persons who came are Shambhu Mahto, Ram Shankar Mahto, Bishwanath Mahto, Uchit Lal Sahu, Ganesh Yadav and others. He stated that with the body, they went to Godda via Pokharia as Pokharia is on the way. They reached Godda Hospital in the morning at about 4-5 hrs. From there, they went to Kahalgaon. The deceased was wearing Dhoti and shirt, but he could not say what was the colour of the shirt. He stated that he had given statement before the police. He stated that he joined the office on Monday. He stated that he is working in Bhairabandh. He stated that he had told the police that he had seen the occurrence and had seen Koila and Dev Narayan caught hold of the cycle of Shiv Pujan and Jitu Mahto from back gave a garasa blow and Shyam Lal assaulted with chheoni. He further deposed that he told the investigating officer that when Shiv Pujan fell down, Gopal Mahto, Budhinath Mahto, Yogeshwar Mahto, Beloon Mahto pinned down Shiv Pujan on the road and Parmanand Mahto with a chheoni severed the head of Shiv Pujan. He stated that he had also told the police that when he had reached near the deadbody, he saw the right leg of Shiv Pujan was under the cycle and the head was lying 6-8 feet away. He stated that he does not remember whether he told the police that the portion of the chheoni was also lying at the place of occurrence. He denied the suggestion that he is not the eye witness. He denied the suggestion that he has cataract in his eyes from before.

25. P.W.10 Dilip Kumar Mahto is the informant. He narrated that his father was called by Dhiraj Mahto in the morning at about 7 O'clock and they both left together. After 3 hours, this witness told his uncle Nagendra Prasad Mahto and cousin grandfather Kashinath Mahto that Dhiraj had taken his father to the police station for some work, but, he has not returned, then these three persons went to search him. No sooner they reached the Bihari Tank, they saw the father of this witness coming from opposite direction on a cycle. When he reached near the tank, some 16-17 persons came out. Sadanand Thakur, Gopal Mahto, Yogesh Mahto, Budhinath Mahto, Beloon Mahto, Koila Mahto, Shyam Lal Mahto, Parmanand Mahto, Karamchand Mahto, Dev Narayan Mahto and Jitu Mahto were identified by this witness. Dev Narayan Mahto and Koila Mahto caught hold of the cycle of the deceased and Shyam Lal Mahto struck the deceased with a chheoni and Jitu Mahto assaulted him with a garasa. After the assault the deceased fell down on the road, then Sadanand Thakur, Gopal Mahto, Yogesh Mahto, Budhinath Mahto, and Beloon Mahto pinned down the deceased and Parmanand Mahto with chheoni severed the head from the body. This witness started shouting when some of the assailants chased them as a result of which the informant and others fled. The accused persons, thereafter raising slogans about "Shanti Pal" and by throwing pamphlets proceeded towards east. This witness went and saw the dead body. He stated that his hand was also smeared with blood. Nagendra Prasad Mahto went to the police station. Police came and recorded the fardbeyan of this witness. The said fardbeyan was identified by this witness and marked as Exhibit 5. This witness disclosed the reason of the murder by stating that his father was opposing the naxalite extremists. He stated that earlier there was a case between his father and accused persons in which accused were punished. He stated that though Jitu, Parmanand, Shyam Lal and Dev Narayan are not members of his family, but, Shyam Lal is his agnate. He states that Gangti Police Station is about half a km. from the place of occurrence. He stated that people of different casts live in his village. He stated that he was worried as to why his father was not returning. He stated that he told the police that his father and Dhiraj left together. He stated that he sensed some danger upon his father so, he went in search of him. He stated that inspite of sensing the danger, he or his brother did not accompany the deceased. He stated that he sensed danger the moment Dhiraj came to call his father. He also informed his mother that something will happen with his father today. He stated that his younger brother was not present. He stated that he informed his mother about his apprehension when his father had already left. He stated that Nagendra and Kashinath were not informed about his apprehension. He stated that his father did not have any work. He stated that his father was a member of 'CPI'. He stated that on many occasions, his father had altercation with the naxalites. He admitted that Gangti block is full of naxalites and his house is the only house which is not influenced by the naxalites. He stated that none of the informant party proceeded towards the deceased, inspite of seeing the accused persons. He stated that they raised alarm, but no one who were near-by, came. He stated that about 30-50 persons were working near-by but no one turned up. He stated that the police officials came at about 11.25 a.m. He stated that he had shown all materials to the police and got his statement recorded. He stated that Nagendra uncle told him that he had given information to the police. He stated that Nagendra had disclosed the name of all the accused before the police in the police station. He also stated that signature of Nagendra was also obtained. He denied the suggestion that Nagendra had not stated the names of any person rather stated that unknown persons had committed the murder. He stated that he stayed at the place of occurrence till 07.00 in the evening. He stated that after taking the deadbody, they went to their house where they stayed for one hour and at about 4 O'clock in the morning went to Godda from where postmortem was conducted and by 11 O' clock everything was over. He stated that he had given a statement at the place of occurrence and thereafter his statement was not recorded. He stated that his father had many enemies. He stated that the investigating officer had taken blood stained earth and the broken piece of chheoni. He denied the suggestion that he had given false evidence and he also denied that he after hatching a conspiracy with Nagendra had falsely implicated these appellants.

27. The defence has also examined two witnesses, they are D.W.1 Manikant Mahto and D.W.2 Sunil Kumar Singh.

28. D.W.1 Manikant Mahto stated that Shiv Pujan was killed in 1999 on Sunday. He reached the place of occurrence in the afternoon and saw the head of Shiv Pujan severed. He went and informed about the occurrence to Abhinandan Mahto. From there he went to the house of the son-in-law of the deceased. He stayed there at night. He stated that Dilip Kumar Mahto and Nagendra Mahto stays in Godda. He stated that they were not present at the place of occurrence. He stated that the occurrence had not taken place in his presence.

29. D.W.2 Sunil Kumar Singh states that he knows Nagendra Mahto, Kashinath Mahto, Dilip Kumar Mahto and Abhinandan Mahto. He also claims to know the deceased Shiv Pujan Mahto. He stated that Kashinath Mahto, Nagendra Mahto and Dilip Mahto were not present at the place of occurrence. He stated that he went to the place of occurrence where only the widow of Shiv Pujan Mahto was present. He stated that Kashinath Mahto, Dilip Kumar Mahto and Nagendra Mahto were in Godda. He stated that all these persons reached next day morning at about 4 O'clock alongwith the son-in-law of the deceased. He also stated that there was dispute amongst the deceased and the accused persons as the deceased had already instituted a case against them, but, thereafter stated that Nagendra Mahto had filed the case.