ARUN SHANKAR SALUNKE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellant, alongwith one Sangita Arun Salunke, Original accused no.2, since acquitted, was tried in the Court of IV Additional Sessions Judge Solapur at Solapur in Sessions Case No.305/1993. Appellant-Original Accused No.1 was charged for offences punishable under sections 498A, 302 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code for subjecting his wife Chayya to cruelty, for committing her murder and for voluntarily causing hurt to his daughter Jaya. Accused no.2 was tried for offences under Sections 302 r/w S.109 and S.498-A r/w S.109 of I.P.C. for abetting the offences of cruelty to and murder of Chayya.

(2.) BY the judgment and order dated 12.7.94 the learned Sessions Judge acquitted original accused No.2 Sangita Arun Salunke of the offences punishable under section 302 read with section 109 and 498A read with section 109 of the Indian Penal Code. He however, convicted the appellant of the offences punishable under sections 302, 498A, and 323 of the Indian Penal Code. For offence punishable u/s.302 of I.P.C. the appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. For offence punishable under section 498A, the appellant was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year. For offence punishable under section 323 of the I.P.C. he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. The substantive sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order of conviction and sentence, the appellant-original accused no.1 has preferred the present appeal. For the sake of convenience, the appellant, is hereinafter referred to as 'accused no.1'.

(3.) P .W.16 Dr. Deshpande performed post-mortem examination on the corpse of Chayya. On 4.9.93 accused no.1 was arrested. Specimen handwriting of accused no.1 was taken. Opinion of the handwriting expert was obtained. After completion of the investigation, accused no.1 came to be charged as aforesaid.