VISHAL Vs. THE STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide judgment dated February 26, 2000 the appellant has been convicted for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 IPC and vide order on sentence dated February 29, 2000 he has been awarded the punishment to undergo imprisonment for life and pay fine in sum of Rs. 5,000/ -; in default of which to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one year.

(2.) At the outset we may notice that the other accused arrayed at the trial, namely - Nasir @ Zero and Babu Lal have been acquitted of the charge of murder but Madan @ Vikrant has been held guilty for the offence punishable under Sec. 201 IPC and sentenced to the period already undergone by him in custody. Therefore we are to decide the fate of the appellant alone in this appeal.

(3.) Concerning the appellant, the finding of guilt has been arrived at by the learned Trial Judge in view of the evidence of being last seen in the company of Saleem (hereinafter referred as the 'deceased') emerging from the testimony of Raseeda PW -3 Mohd.Anish @ Ajju PW -4 and Sayyed Ahmed @ Gajju PW -5 coupled with the circumstance of recovery of a dagger and clothes stained with human blood at his instance from the tenanted premises of co -accused Madan @ Vikrant. Dr.Ashok Jaiswal PW - 7 opined that the said dagger could have been used to inflict the injuries found upon the body of the deceased. Furthermore, the learned Trial Judge held that the motive stood established in view of the statement made by Raseeda during cross -examination that there existed disputes between the deceased and the accused persons over distribution of money.