AJAY MISHRA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal, preferred under Section 374 of Code of criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred as cr. P. C.), is directed against the judgment and order dated 28. 04. 1994, passed by learned Sessions Judge, Dehradun, in sessions Trial No. 114 of 1990, whereby accused/appellant. Ajay Mishra has been convicted under section 302 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred as I. P. C.), and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

(2.) HEARD learned counsel for the parties and perused the trial court's record.

(3.) PROSECUTION story, in brief, is that accused/appellant Ajay Mishra got married to ashima Bala Mishra on 30th June 1989 in orissa. Both accused and deceased belong to Orissa. On 19. 06. 1990, the two came to rishikesh and stayed in Hotel Basera, in room No. 102. In the intervening night of 19th/20th June 1990 at about 00. 30 hours, p. W. 1 Sanjay Gupta, a house keeper of the hotel, was cleaning tiles, when accused Ajay mishra came down at Reception Counter, from first floor and told that his wife was in a serious condition and sought help to take his wife to Hospital. P. W. 3 Dev Ashish was on the reception duty, and one Govind Singh bisht and Munshi Singh were on duty as night waiters. On hearing Ajay Mishra, regarding his wife's condition, P. W. 1 Sanjay gupta and others went to room No. 102 and saw that wife of accused/appellant Ajay mishra, was lying in the bathroom. She was immediately picked up from there and taken in a three wheeler, bearing Registration No. URM 8876, to nearby hospital of P. W. 4 Dr. C. L. Kohli. On being requested, Dr. Kohli came out of his clinic and checked up ashima Bala (deceased) and declared her brought dead. According to the prosecution case, Ajay Mishra got nervous and told that his wife is daughter of a Member of parliament (Rajya Sabha) and he would not be able to conceal her death. He confessed that he had administered Potassium Cyanide to his wife and asked the Hotel Staff to take him to Police Station. P. W. 1 Sanjay Gupta lodged First Information Report (Ext. A-1)with Police Station, Rishikesh, at 2. 40 A. M. on 20. 06. 1990, against accused Ajay Mishra, which was registered as Crime No. 337 of 1990, relating to offence punishable under section 302 I. P. C. P. W. 12 Inspector Ram babu Singh took up the investigation and interrogated the witnesses, who had come to the Police Station with P. W. 1 Sanjay gupta. Accused was also accompanying the witnesses at the time of lodging of the First information Report. Thereafter, the. Police took the dead body of deceased (Ashima bala) in their possession and prepared inquest report (Ext. A-11) at 6. 00 A. M. The police further prepared other documents like police Form No. 13 (Ext. A-14), sketch of the dead body (Ext. A-15), and letter to Chief medical Officer (Ext. A-16 ). Dead body was sent in a sealed cover for postmortem examination through P. W. 10 Constable Tej pratap Mishra and Constable Naresh Pal for postmortem examination. P. W. 7 Dr. Surat Singh Aswal conducted postmortem examination on the dead body of Ashima bala Mishra on the very day i. e. 20. 06. 1990, at about 3. 30 P. M. , and prepared autopsy report (Ext. A-8 ). No ante mortem injury was found by the Medical Officer. On internal examination, the Medical Officer found that there was a gravid male foetus, 16cm in length, in the uterus. As to cause of death p. W. 7 Dr. Surat Singh Aswal mentioned in his report that the same could not be ascertained, and preserved viscera. The viscera was sent in a sealed condition through p. W. 11 Constable Shishupal Singh to the forensic laboratory, Agra. P. W. 8 dr. S. C. Sharma, a Scientific Officer of forensic laboratory, after chemical examination, gave a report (Ext. A-9 ). Though he found Organo chloro Insecticide as poisonous matter in five parts of viscera, but as to the potassium cyanide, he gave a negative report. During investigation from room No. 102 of the hotel, Police recovered five capsules of '30 plus', one strip of perinorm, some papers and letters, including the one written in oriya, and a memorandum (Ext. A-2) was prepared by the Police in the presence of ashok Kumar Pandey and others. P. W. 12 inspector Ram Babu Singh, Investigating officer also went to Cuttack to make necessary inquires from relatives of the deceased and also took copy of First Information report (Ext. A-21) lodged by P. W. 5 Akshay kumar panda, father of the deceased, in orissa, relating to offence punishable under Sections 498-A, 304-B I. P. C. and one punishable under Section 4 of Dowry prohibition Act, 1961, against Ajay Mishra, his father Chandra Shekhar Mishra and others on 10. 07. 1990 i. e. 20 days after the death of Ashima Bala. After completion of investigation, the Investigating Officer submitted charge sheet (Ext. A-25) against accused ajay Mishra, relating to offence punishable under Sections 498-A, 304-B I. P. C. and one punishable under Section 3/4 Dowry prohibition Act, 1961.