KANHU CHARAN PANDA Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dtd. 29/11/2006 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Nayagarh in S.T. Case No.107/2005 convicting the Appellant for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment (RI) for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000.00 and in default to undergo RI for a further period of six months.

(2.) It must be mentioned at the outset that the FIR in this case was lodged on 31/5/2004 and the Appellant was arrested nearly a month later on 30/6/2004. He is stated to have remained in custody since then. This being a double murder of a woman and her infant son, the Court was not inclined to enlarge the Appellant on bail when it heard his bail application on 27/1/2020.

(3.) This is a case based on circumstantial evidence. The case of the prosecution was that the deceased Sanju was the wife of one Prahalad Panda of village Kendupali. The deceased Krushna is a minor son. On 29/5/2004 both Sanju and her son were found missing from their village and could not be traced. On the next day, the dead bodies of a child and female were found lying side by side which could not be identified by the people of the nearby villages present there. The faces of the dead bodies were found disfigured and appeared to have been crushed by stone. The Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Fategarh Police Station (P.S.), who reached there upon receiving the information found four pieces of stones with blood lying near the bodies along with the plastic bottle containing water, a pair of chapals, a blood stained jute bag containing wearing apparels of the lady and the child. He drew up a plain paper FIR at the spot and took up investigation of the case himself. A sniffer dog and Scientific Officer were deployed and the bodies were sent for post-mortem.