SUBASH SAMAL Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This jail criminal appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 5.12.2000 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Khurda at Bhubaneswar in S.T. Case No. 21 of 2000 convicting the appellant under section 302, I.P.C. and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that in the night of 15/16.4.1999 the deceased and his wife (P.W. 1) slept on the verandah of their house, as they were cementing the floor, and their son (P.W. 2) slept in the house of their daughter. In the midnight, the accused came to the house of the deceased wearing a black trouser (M.O. II) and a red 'T' shirt (M.O. III) holding a cricket bat (M.O.I.) and woke them up. The appellant informed them to have broken their cabin and took the deceased towards the cabin by dragging him. Some time thereafter, the appellant alone came to the house of the deceased holding the cricket bat (M.O. I) and asked P.W. 1 to follow him to her husband. As P.W. 1 declined to accompany him, the appellant persuaded her saying that he had assaulted the deceased by the cricket bat and required her help to carry the deceased home. Saying so, he dragged P.W. 1 by holding her hand, as a result of which her bangles were broken. As she raised hullah and called her son, son-in-law and daughter, the appellant went away. The wife of the deceased along with her son (P.W. 2), daughter and son-in-law went in search of the deceased. They found the deceased lying dead on the road near Nageswartangi Daily Municipal Market. There was profuse bleeding from his ear. The I.I.C. Lingaraj Police Station (P.W. 5) along with other police personnel had already arrived there. The wife of the deceased, P.W. 1 orally reported the incident to P.W. 5, who registered the case and after due investigation submitted charge-sheet against the appellant under section 302, I.P.C.

(3.) The plea of the appellant is one of complete denial.