SAIYYAD MUSADDIK VAHIDUDDIN KADRI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this appeal, the appellant has assailed the judgment and order dtd. 28/3/2019, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Thane, in Sessions Case No.29/2013, convicting him for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC') and sentencing him to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs..005,000.00 in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one month.

(2.) The facts as are necessary to deal with the case are- It is the prosecution case that between 8:00 p.m on 14/8/2003 and 7:35 a.m on 15/8/2003, the appellant committed the murder of one scrap vendor-Julfikar Umarkhan with a weapon or sharp edged knife and be-headed the said person and set him ablaze by pouring kerosene or a like substance. The body of the person was found in a bathroom in a flat, being Flat No. 302 of Sai Aashiyana Co-op. Society, A-Wing, Mira Road, Thane. It is further the prosecution case that the said act was done by the appellant to conceal his identity, by showing that he was murdered. The object/motive was to avoid court proceedings and cases which the appellant was facing.

(3.) At the outset, we may note that the prosecution case rests entirely on circumstantial evidence. The law relating to a case resting on circumstantial evidence is well settled. The Apex Court in the case of Hanumant Govind Nargundkar vs. State of Madhya Pradesh,1952 SCR 1091 : AIR 1952 SC 343 : (1952) 2 SCC 71. in para 12 has observed as under: