CHANDU CHANDRAHAS Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Special leave granted.

(2.) Chandu alias Chandrahas was tried for the murder of one Hemrai. He was convicted by the trial Court on November 23, 1984 under Sections 302 and 201, Indian Penal Code. He was sentenced to imprisonment for life under Section 302 and was given five years' rigorous imprisonment under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code. Appeal filed by him was dismissed by the High Court.

(3.) The prosecution case is entirely based on circumstantial evidence. The prosecution story is that sometime before the occurrence the cattle belonging to the appellant entered the fields of the deceased thereby damaging the standing crops which resulted in a quarrel between the two. The matter was reported to the village panchayat. It is further alleged that the appellant gave threats that he would kill the deceased. On February 2, 1984, sometime in the evening the deceased told his family members that he was going to village Renutola. The appellant was grazing his cattle in the Nalla which separates the two villages of Singhanbhedi and Renutola. The deceased and the accused were seen near that Nalla. The deceased did not return till late night. The dead-body of the deceased was found next morning from the fields near about the Nalla.