JAGDISH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this appeal, the appellant challenges his conviction vide judgment of the learned Trial Court dtd. 22/8/2019 for murder of one Shivnath @ Lambu ('deceased'); and also the order on sentence dtd. 27/8/2019, wherein the appellant was directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, alongwith fine of ?10,000/-, in default whereof, simple imprisonment for 1 year for offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC').

(2.) Briefly the case of prosecution is that on 5/11/2015, at about 8:00 am, Prahlad Kumar (PW-20) went to galli in front of H.No.59 at Village Bhadola, and found one sack lying there with the body of one unknown person. Thereafter, he made a call at number 100 which was recorded vide DD No.9PP (Ex. PW-4/A). SI Devi Lal (PW-28) reached at the spot and found legs of a male visible from one sack lying there. He called the crime team and on opening the said sack, dead body of one male, covered in a blanket and bed sheet tied with orange colour rope, was found. The dead body was wearing a grey colour T-shirt, sky blue shorts and there were injuries marks on the neck behind the ear of the said body. At the spot, one Tek Chand (PW-12) identified the body to be of Shiv Nath @ Lambu and informed that the deceased was a tenant on the first floor of his house and was residing alongwith his nephew Jagdish (appellant). The body was sent to the mortuary at BJRM Hospital and thereafter, rukka (Ex.PW-28/A) was prepared on the basis of contents of DD No.9PP, on which FIR No.989/2015 dtd. 5/11/2015 under Ss. 302/201 IPC at P.S. Mahendra Park (Ex. PW-1/A) was registered. On the basis of a secret information, Insp. Mukesh Kumar (PW-26) reached near Peer Baba Mazar where the appellant was apprehended and was arrested vide arrest memo Ex. PW-24/A and disclosure statement (Ex. PW-26/C) was recorded. Appellant also disclosed about involvement of one Bengali, but he could not be found. Thereafter, upon completion of investigation, charge-sheet was filed against the appellant and the appellant was charged for offence punishable under Ss. 302/34 IPC and 201/34 IPC. To prove its case, the prosecution examined 28 witnesses.

(3.) On 6/11/2015, the body was sent for post-mortem examination and Dr. R.P. Singh (PW-9) conducted the post-mortem examination and tendered his report (Ex. PW-9/A) and opined: