S SHANKAR Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is questioning the legality and correctness of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the Addl. Sessions Judge, Shimoga, on 18.8.2008 in S.C.No. 62/2008 in this appeal. The appellant was tried for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 309 of the I.P.C. The Addl. Sessions Judge convicted the appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 309 of the I.P.C. and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life for having committed the murder under Section 302 of the I.P.C. and also to pay fine of Rs.5,000/-. The appellant has been further sentenced to undergo imprisonment for three months for the offence punishable under Section 309 of the I.P.C.

(2.) It is the case of the prosecution that the appellant was supplying milk to the house of deceased Sowmya and he was requesting deceased Sowmya to love him as he had fallen in love with her. As she was not responding, he had an intention to kill her. Accordingly, on 8.6.2007 at about 12.30 p.m., while Sowmya was proceeding with her friend P.W.3 Suma and her cousin P.W.4 Anitha on Kasturaba College Road near Gopi Circle, Shimoga, the accused came on a bicycle along with milk cans and stabbed her with M.O.10 knife. Immediately, P.Ws.3 and 4 shifted deceased Sowmya to Nanjappa Hospital for treatment. The appellant, after stabbing Sowmya, consumed poison, which he had preserved in his pocket, and he also fell unconscious. At Nanjappa Hospital, P.W.3 Suma was informed that as it an offence, the matter has to be informed to the police. Accordingly, P.W.3 lodged a complaint as per Ex.P-2.

(3.) P.W.16 Mahammed Umruddin, the P.S.I., registered a case in Crime No. 59/2007 initially for the offences under Sections 324 and 307 of the I.P.C. and issued F.I.R. as per Ex.P-15. At about 2.00 p.m. or so, deceased Sowmya succumbed to the stab injuries. The dead body was shifted from Nanjappa Hospital to Mc Gann Hospital where autopsy was conducted by P.W.12 Dr.Veeresh and P.M. report was issued as per Ex.P-12.