SUBHASH NARAYAN NATH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this appeal under Sec. 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, appellant-accused is challenging judgment and order dtd. 10/6/2015, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Amalner in Sessions Case No. 30/2012 whereby he is convicted for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) From the material on record, case of prosecution unfolds as under :-

(3.) Learned advocate for the appellant submitted that there is no consistent evidence on record in order to unerringly hold accused being author of assault caused on the deceased. It is submitted that in absence of establishing any motive for the appellant to kill the deceased, conviction recorded against him cannot sustain. She further submitted that recoveries allegedly done at the instance of the accused are not reliable so also evidence of Sangita about identifcation of axe. As far as evidence of Ratnabai (PW 10) is concerned, it is submitted that during cross-examination she has admitted about having grudge against the accused as he used to quarrel with his wife who is sister of the witness and hence her testimony is not reliable. She also drew attention of this Court to the discrepancy in colour of shirt of deceased. It is also pointed out that the blood allegedly found on seized articles cannot be connected with incident of death of deceased for want of determination of grouping thereof. It is submitted that evidence on record does not conclusively prove all circumstances pointing to the guilt of the accused. She placed reliance on the judgment of the Hon 'ble Apex Court in the matter of Ravi Sharma vs. State (Government of NCT of Delhi) and another reported in (2022)8 SCC 536.