ARJUN PANDIT Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ARJUN Pandit is convicted for the offence of murder of Anita Gupta on the strength of recovery of weapon of offence i.e. dagger and the gold chain of the deceased vide judgment dated November 12, 2013. Vide order date November 25, 2013 Arjun Pandit has been directed to undergo imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 5000/ - and in default of payment of fine to further undergo simple imprisonment for 6 months. He has also been directed to pay Rs. 1 lakh as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased and in default of payment of compensation, to undergo 6 months simple imprisonment.

(2.) LEARNED counsel for the appellant assails the judgment on the ground that the entry in the house is friendly as is apparent from the evidence on record. Merely on the ground that a shirt stitched by Taj Tailor Jalesar was found on the spot, the appellant cannot be implicated. The recovery of the shirt was not incriminating towards the appellant. No witness has been produced to state that the appellant was wearing the shirt stitched by Taj Tailor Jalesar. The case of the prosecution rest on the alleged recovery. There are contradictions in the testimony of the witnesses as to the place of recovery of dagger. The time of arrest of the appellant is also doubtful and hence the prosecution case is full of doubts. Since the appellant has been acquitted of the charge for offence under Section 392 read with Section 120B IPC and Section 397 read with Section 120B IPC, the alleged recovery of gold chain at the instance of appellant cannot be used against him. There is no material on record to connect that the injuries on the deceased could have been caused by the alleged dagger recovered at the instance of Arjun Pandit.

(3.) THE daughter of the deceased Preeti Arora informed that on July 15, 2010 she attended the birthday of her mother. At that time her mother was wearing gold chain with locket, pair of tops, two finger rings, two bangles, nose pin and one wrist watch. Thus, the gold chain, pair of tops and nose pin were found missing as also one mobile phone. The body was sent for post -mortem.