MANOJ VERMA Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Pritinker Diwaker, J 1. As these two appeals arise out of the common judgment dated 02.05.2007 passed by Sessions Judge, Raipur (C.G.), in S.T. No.65/2007 convicting the accused/appellants under Sections 302/34 IPC and sentencing them to undergo imprisonment for life with fine of Rs.1,000/- each, in default of payment of fine amount to further undergo R.I. for six months, they are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) As per the prosecution case, deceased Santosh Kumar Sahu was residing in the house of Ashok Wajre (PW/1) as a tenant. Deceased Santosh could not be seen prior to 2-3 days of 22.11.2005 and then a foul smell started coming from his room. Thereafter, intimation thereof was given to police by Ashok Wajre (PW/1), on the basis of which, merg intimation (Ex.P/1) was recorded on 22.11.2005 and police reached to house of PW/1, broke open the lock and found the body of deceased inside the room. Inquest on the body of deceased was prepared on 22.11.2005 and the body was sent for postmortem examination to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, Raipur vide Ex.P/10-A where Dr. Vikas Kumar Dhruv (PW/5) conducted postmortem on the body of deceased on 23.11.2005 vide Ex.P/10 and opined that the cause of death remains open. The police could not get any clue about the murder of the deceased and on 22.05.2006 and 06.07.2006, written complaints Ex.P/8 and Ex.P/9 were made by Savitri Sahu (PW/4), wife of the deceased, mentioning therein that her husband might have been killed because he had invested some amount in the liquor business. Upon merg inquiry, FIR (Ex.P/11) was registered against an unknown person on 11.10.2006 under Section 302 IPC. On the basis of suspicion, accused persons were arrested and memorandum of accused/appellant Manoj Verma in Cr.A.No.385/2007 was recorded on 17.10.2006 vide Ex.P/6, based on which, one DVD player of the deceased was seized vide Ex.P/7. Memorandum of accused/appellant Rohit in Cr.A.No.696/2007 was also recorded on 17.10.2006 vide Ex.P/6, based on which, one motorcycle of the deceased was seized vide Ex.P/5. After filing of the charge sheet, the trial Court framed charge under Section 302/34 IPC against the appellants.

(3.) So as to hold the accused/appellants guilty, the prosecution examined as many as 07 witnesses. Statements of the accused/appellants were also recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. in which they denied the circumstances appearing against them in the prosecution case, pleaded innocence and false implication.