JAYANTA NAIK ALIAS JAYANTA KUMAR NAYAK Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellant stands convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life by the learned Sessions Judge, Sundargarh in Sessions Trial No. 15 of 1993.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated the prosecution case is that the Appellant is the nephew of Raghumani Nayak (hereinafter referred to as 'the deceased'). They were the residents of village -Masanilkani. There existed a land dispute between the family of the Appellant and the deceased due to which the former had threatened to take away the life of the deceased. On 22.9.1992 at about 5 p.m. the deceased went to the village tank for taking bath. As he did not return home by 6 p.m., his wife (P.W. 2) and her son Arun went in search of him, but could not locate him and came back home. After some time, P.W. 2 called some villagers and went with them holding a torch light to the village tank and on their way they saw the Appellant coming by another path being drenched. They saw the legs and hands of a human being. One Akshayaya Kumar Nayak went inside the water and found that it was the dead body of the deceased. They all came back leaving the dead body as such in the tank. P.W. 2, thereafter proceeded to Bhasma Police Station and lodged F.I.R. The Officer -in -charge of the Police Station arrived at the spot and found the dead body of the deceased in the middle of the tank. On the next day morning the dead body was brought out from the tank.

(3.) IN order to bring home the charge against the Appellant the prosecution examined six witnesses out of whom P.W. 1 is an eyewitness, P.W. 2 is the widow of the deceased. P. Ws. 3 and 4 are witnesses to seizure of lungi (M.O. I), banian (M.O. II) and chadi (M.O. III). P.W. 5 is the Investigating Officer and P.W. 6 is the doctor who conducted autopsy over the dead body of the deceased.