BHIKARI CHARAN DAS Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a case of fratricide.

(2.) The Appellant- Bhikari Charan Das assails his conviction and sentence to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for six months under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as "the Penal Code" for brevity) recordedby the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Nayagarh in S.T. No.153 of 2006 (arising out of G.R. Case No.118 of 2006 of the court of the learned S.D.J.M., Nayagarh).

(3.) The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows: On 04.03.2006 at about 9.00 P.M., the husband of the informant-Nirmala Behera (hereinafter called "the deceased" for brevity) with her son went to local market to purchase some articles. Suddenly, the accused came to the deceased, dealt blows by means of a knife and assaulted him on different parts of his body after chasing him to a distance, as a result of which, the deceased died at the spot. The son of the deceased went to his house and informed his mother (Informant), who went to the spot, found her husband lying dead after being assaulted severely and sustaining injuries on different parts of his body. On getting reliable information, the local police went to the spot in the same night, found the dead body of the deceased lying in front of the house of one Kulamani Patnaik. At the spot, the wife of the deceased lodged a written report, basing on which, the SubInspector of Police, Itamati Out-Post took up investigation after sending the report to Inspector-In-Charge, Nayagarh Police Station, Nayagarh for registration of a case. The Inspector-In-Charge, Nayagarh Police Station, Nayagarh registered Nayagarh P.S. Case No.64 of 2006 and directed the Sub-Inspector of Police, Itamati Out-Post to continue investigation. During course of investigation, the Investigating Officer held inquest over the dead body of the deceased in presence of witnesses, prepared spot map, sent the dead body to the District Headquarters Hospital, Nayagarh for post-mortem examination, seized blood stained earth and sample earth from the spot. On 05.03.2006, he seized the blood stained shirt of the deceased on production by the escort party and on 10.03.2006 arrested the accused, seized his wearing apparels and recorded statement of the accused. While in police custody, the accused gave recovery of the knife by which he had assaulted the deceased, from a bush near the house of one Arata Khanda of the said village. The said knife was seized by the Investigating Officer, he arrested the acused and, subsequently, forwarded the accused to the court. After receiving the post-mortem examination report, he made a query to the medical officer by sending the weapon of offence and obtained the final opinion of the doctor on 17.04.2006, sent the exhibits to State Forensic Science Laboratory, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar, Khurda, as per order of the Court and on completion of investigation, he submitted charge-sheet dated 10.06.2006 against the Appellant.