RAJESH Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is the sole accused in S.C. No. 1151 of 2017 on the file of the Additional Sessions Judge, IV, Kollam and he is challenging the conviction and sentence imposed on him for the offence under Sec. 302 of IPC as per the impugned judgment dtd. 7/5/2018.

(2.) The prosecution case is that the brother of the deceased had an illicit relationship with the sister of the accused and even though a child was born in that relationship, the brother of the deceased avoided the sister of the accused and married another lady and because of that, the accused had previous enmity towards the deceased. The accused was in custody in another case and when he was released from the jail, the accused along with the deceased Gopakumar reached the house of PW1 at Poikayil Mukku on 19/9/2016 and while they were staying there, at about 10 p.m. on 20/9/2016, while the accused and the deceased were consuming liquor, the accused asked PW1 to purchase 3 cigarettes and when PW1 was leaving the house, he heard the accused and the deceased quarrelling and hence, PW1 came back to the house and saw the accused stabbing on the neck of the deceased with a broken glass and the deceased, who sustained serious injuries, died on the spot and the accused is thereby alleged to have committed the offence as aforesaid.

(3.) On the basis of Exhibit P1 First Information Statement of PW1, PW14 registered Exhibit P12 FIR and thereafter, PW1 5 Circle Inspector conducted the investigation. PW16 was the Circle Inspector, who completed the investigation and filed the final report before the Judicial First Class Magistrate-I, Kollam