LAXMI PRASAD Vs. STATE OF C.G.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 13.5.2010 passed by the II Additional Sessions Judge (FTC), Mungeli, Distt. Bilaspur in S.T.No.48/08 convicting the accused/appellant under Sections 302 of IPC on three counts for committing murder of Bajharinbai, Rajkumar @ Raju & Kantibai and Section 404 of IPC for dishonestly misappropriating the ornaments worn by deceased Bajharinbai at the time of her death and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life, to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/- on three counts u/s 302 of IPC and R.I. for one year, to pay a fine of Rs.500/- u/s 404 of IPC with default stipulations.

(2.) In the present case, deceased Bajharinbai was the second wife of Dharmu and was residing at Village-Hardi along with her grand-son Rajkumar @ Raju, aged about 10 years, and grand-daughter Kantibai, aged about 5 years. The accused/appellant is grand-son of Dharmu from his first wife (step-grand-son of Bajharinbai). As per prosecution case, the accused/appellant came to Village-Hardi and was residing with Bajharinbai since about a week prior to the incident. In the intervening night of 6th & 7th August, 2008 the accused/appellant first committed murder of Bajharinbai by abruptly hitting Bajharinbai with grinding stone on her chest and thereafter on her head and during this when Rajkumar @ Raju and Kantibai woken up, he also committed their murder by hitting them with the same stone. Further case of the prosecution is that the accused/appellant had also snatched the ornaments from the body of deceased Bajharinbai and then ran away from the said village to Delhi for his livelihood. On 12.8.2008 when Malikram (PW-7), a local villager, was passing through the house of the deceased, he had some doubt in his mind as the house was locked from outside and a foul smell was emanating from it. He immediately gave information to PW-1 Jilesh, son of Bajharinbai, at Delhi and also gave information to the police on 13.8.2008, based on which entry was made in the Rojnamchasanha vide Ex.P/29C. Police party reached the house of deceased Bajharinbai, prepared Panchanama Ex.P/11 of house of Bajharinbai, broke open the lock of the door and then found three dead bodies of Bajharinbai, Rajkumar @ Raju and Kantibai inside the house in decomposed condition. The police also noticed blood spread all over the house. FIR (Ex.P/19) was recorded under Section 302 of IPC against the accused/appellant and merg intimations (Ex.P/20, P/21 & P/22) as to death of Rajkumar @ Raju, Kantibai & Bajharinbai were also recorded. Inquest over the dead bodies of Kantibai, Rajkumar @ Raju and Bajharinbai were performed as per Ex.P/4, P/5 & P/6 respectively and thereafter, the dead bodies were sent for postmortem. Postmortem on the dead bodies of Bajharinbai, Kantibai & Rajkumar were conducted by Dr. R.S. Ayam (PW-9) vide Ex.P/24, P/25 & P/26 respectively and he noticed that the dead bodies were in a decomposed condition with multiple rupture of left lateral neck (partial ruptured) involving oesophagus, trachea, larynx, major vessels, associated with neck muscles etc. breaking of ribs and fracture of cervical spines. In his opinion, the cause of death was shock due to internal excessive hemorrhage and rupture of major vessels of neck and that the death was homicidal in nature. After arresting the accused/appellant on 21.8.2008 his disclosure statement (Ex.P/16) was recorded, based on which receipt books from the jewellery shop of the ornaments i.e. silver chain and golden nose pin were seized vide Ex.P/15. Further, vide Ex.P/24 seizure of clothes of the deceased persons was made whereas vide Ex.P/17 receipt of Rs.500/- of silver chain and receipt of Rs.500/- of golden nose pin were also seized. By another seizure memo Ex.P/18, one grinding stone stained with blood and one bloodstained quilt were seized. The seized articles were sent for chemical examination to Forensic Science Laboratory and as per FSL report (Ex.P/39), blood was found on Article A, C, E i.e. soil from the place of occurrence and Articles G i.e. grinding stone, Articles I, J-1 & J-2 i.e. seized clothes of the deceased persons. Silver chain and golden nose pin of the deceased were duly identified by PW-3 Narayan and PW-10 Devcharan vide Ex.P/23. After investigation charge sheet was filed against the accused/appellant under Sections 302 & 404 of IPC and thereafter, charges under Section 302 of IPC on three counts and Section 404 of IPC were framed.

(3.) So as to hold the accused/appellant guilty, the prosecution examined as many as 15 witnesses. Statement of the accused/appellant was also recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. in which he denied the circumstances appearing against him in the prosecution case, pleaded innocence and false implication.