(1.) By the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 4/10/2016 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Rairangpur in Sessions Trial No.20 of 2014, the present Appellant has been convicted under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as 'the I.P.C.' for brevity) for having committed murder of his wife Arati. The Appellant has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.10,000.00, in default to undergo R.I. for six months more.
(2.) The prosecution case, as is revealed from the materials on record, is that the marriage of deceased Arati, niece of the informant (P.W.1), took place with accused Raj Kumar as per their caste, customs and rites on 25/11/2012. It is alleged that at the time of marriage besides house-hold articles, cash amounting to Rs.1,51,000.00 (one lakh fifty one thousand) and five tolas of gold ornaments were given. Few days after the marriage, accused persons started subjecting the deceased to cruelty on the pretext of demand of a motor cycle and more dowry money. It is also alleged that due to non-fulfilment of their aforesaid demand, they had taken attempt to kill Arati intentionally pushing her inside a well nearby their house. However, luckily she was saved by the villagers. Fifteen to twenty days prior to the date of occurrence, the parents had also gone to bring back Arati to their house on the occasion of marriage of her sister. But the accused persons did not allow her to go with them and put-forth a demand of rupees two lakhs to be paid to them for allowing the deceased to go with them. Subsequently, on 12/3/2014, they successfully done her to death in their house by deliberately setting fire to her. The fact of death of Arati was known by the informant and others over phone from the police authorities of Jamda Police Station. Accordingly, on the next day, they came to the village of theh accused persons and found the dead body of Arati was lying in burnt condition on the floor in the outer room of their house. It was ascertained from the villagers that the accused persons have killed the deceased on the previous day.
(3.) On the written report of the informant, the then I.I.C., Jamda Police Station, Sri P.K. Kerketta (P.W.19) took up investigation. During investigation, he collected many incriminating materials from the spot with the help of scientific officer and in presence of Executive Magistrate, sent the same to S.F.S.L., Bhubaneswar for chemical test through court. On examination of material witnesses as he found involvement of the accused persons in the alleged offences on prima-facie basis, he arrested them and forwarded them to the court of the learned S.D.J.M., Rairangpur.