ANIL KUMAR GOYAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the impugned judgment dated 25.07.2009 in terms of which the appellant has been convicted under Section 302 IPC for committing the murder of his wife Veena Goel (hereinafter referred to as deceased) as also the consequent order on sentence dated 30.07.2009.

(2.) Briefly put, case of the prosecution is that on 15.09.2007, a PCR call was received at P.S. Pandav Nagar intimating that a lady has set herself on fire at House No.79-B, Pocket C, Mayur Vihar. The said information was recorded as DD No.14A dated 15.09.2007 and copy thereof was entrusted to ASI Vijender Singh (PW7) for verification. ASI Vijender Singh immediately proceeded for the spot of occurrence along with Constable Kunwarpal (PW6), where he found that the injured had already been taken to LNJP Hospital by her husband. ASI Vijender Singh left Constable Kunwarpal (PW6) to protect the scene of crime and went to LNJP Hospital and collected the MLC (Ex.PW3/1) of the patient Veena Goel. She was declared fit for statement, so ASI Vijender Singh (PW7) recorded her statement Ex.PW7/A in presence of Dr. Kanav Gupta (PW9). The deceased in her statement Ex.PW7/A implicated the appellant by stating that she was set on fire by her husband Anil Kumar Goyal after pouring kerosene oil on her. Thereafter, ASI Vijender Singh (PW7) returned to the spot of occurrence, where he appended his endorsement Ex.PW7/B on the statement of the deceased and sent it to the Police Station through Constable Kunwarpal for the registration of the case. ASI Vijender Singh (PW7) also requisitioned crime team and got the spot of occurrence photographed. He inspected the place of occurrence and prepared the rough site plan Ex.PW7/C. He also took into possession a half burnt plastic tub Ex.P7, a slightly burnt plastic bucket Ex.P8, a burnt pyjama Ex.P9, a slightly burnt towel Ex.P10, a plastic bottle without lid Ex.P11, a plastic pipe (spring type) burnt and shrunk Ex.P12 and a piece of saree Ex.P13 from the spot of occurrence.

(3.) On 15.09.2007 at around 7:50 pm, Head Constable M.A. Khan informed the police station from the hospital about the death of Veena Goel, which was recorded as DD No.23A and the case was converted into a case under Section 302 IPC. On 16.09.2007, the investigation was taken over by the SHO, Inspector M.L. Sharma (PW10). He conducted the inquest proceedings and sent the dead body for post mortem examination. Dr. Ankita Dey (PW8) conducted the post mortem examination on 16.09.2007. On examination, she found the deceased has suffered superficial to deep burns all over the body except genitalia and total burn area was approximately 99 per cent of the body surface area. She did not find evidence of any mechanical injury on the person of the deceased and in her opinion, the cause of death was shock due to burn injuries. The post mortem report is Ex.PW8/A. The SHO arrested the appellant on 23.09.2007 vide arrest memo Ex.PW7/D. He also recorded the statements of the witnesses and on completion of formalities of the investigation, he filed the charge sheet against the appellant in the court.