KONDARU LAXMINARAYAN ACHARY Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was prosecuted for commission of murder of his own wife Janaki Achary. The marriage between the appellant and Janaki was solemnised on 'Herapanchami' day in the month of Ashada, 1994. On the following month, namely in the month of Aswina, she went to her father's house, just a few days before the local festival 'Thankurani Jatra' at Berhampur. The appellant went to her father-in-law's house at Aska and invited the deceased and her family members to come to Berhampur to witness 'Thankurani Jatra'. At that juncture, the deceased narrated to her mother P.W. 2, A. Iswari Achary that the appellant had assaulted his elder brother's wife by means of a kati due to a family quarrel and he was a wicked man. Therefore, she was not inclined to go to the appellant's house. However, after great persuasion by-her parents, she came along with her husband.

(2.) On 20.5.1995 one Ganga Acharya, the elder brother of the appellant, went to the house of the informant at Aska and told them that the deceased was having severe stomach pain in the previous night as a result of which she died. The informant, after having learnt about the death of the deceased, rushed to Berhampur at about 12.00 P.M. and found his daughter lying dead on the floor of the appellant's house with blood oozing from her mouth, nose and ears. There were marks of injury on her body. When the appellant was questioned as to why and how the deceased sustained such injuries, the appellant did not give any reply and observed complete silence, which roused a great suspicion in the mind of the informant that some foulplay had been committed by his son-in-law. So, he rushed to Badbazar Police Station and lodged a written report before the I.I.C. of the Police Station, who registered the same as an F.I.R. under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and directed P.W. 8, S.I. of Police, to take up investigation. During investigation, P.W. 8 held inquest over the deadbody of Janaki, arranged to send the same for post-mortem examination and seized one necklace and a lungi suspected to have been stained with blood on production by the appellant. The appellant's nail clippings were also collected and sent for examination by the Chemical Analyst along with other incriminating materials. The post-mortem report revealed that the death of Janaki was due to asphyxia and external injuries nos. 1 to 3 were sufficient in ordinary course of nature to cause death. Therefore, the appellant was arrested and taken into custody. On completion of investigation, P.W. 8 submitted charge-sheet against the appellant.

(3.) The case was based on circumstantial evidence since the incident had taken place inside the appellant's house in the night. The prosecution in order to bring home the charges to the appellant, examined 9 witnesses. P.W. 1, A. Laxmi Achary, was the father of the deceased and the informant in this case, P.W. 2, her mother, P.W. 3, brother of the deceased, P.W. 4 was the younger brother of the appellant, P.W. 5, a witness to the inquest, P.W. 6 is the processor of F.M.T. of M.K.C.G. Medical College, Berhampur, who held autopsy over the dead body of Janaki, P.W. 8, the I.O. who submitted charge-sheet, and P.W. 9 the Homoeopath, who had treated the deceased 15 days prior to her death.