PRAVAKAR DAS Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant, having been convicted for commission of offence under sections 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life, has preferred this appeal from jail.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution is that on 18.12.2002 at about 8:00 AM, the deceased Mohan Dora, who is the brother of the informant (P.W.1) had come to the house of the informant to attend 21 st day ceremony of the son of P.W.1. On that day at about 9:00 AM, the acquitted accused Narayan Das came and told the deceased to go with him as he wanted to vacate his house whereafter Narayan Das vacated the house of the deceased and stayed in the house of his younger brother Dibakar Das (acquitted). Thereafter on the same day at about noon, the deceased went to the house of Dibakar and begged apology to Narayan Das and requested him to stay in his house on rent. But Narayan Das did not agree for which there was exchange of hot words and thereafter, the deceased returned to his house. It is the further case of the prosecution that on the same day at about 8:00 PM, while the deceased was present in his house, all the accused persons entered into his house and assaulted him as a result of which he died. Thereafter, the accused persons dragged the dead body of the deceased and threw the same inside a nearby ditch. On the next day at about 8:30 AM, while the informant (P.W.1) returned to his house with milk, he heard about the occurrence from his wife. On hearing this, the informant rushed to the house of the deceased and from there, he ascertained about the occurrence from neighbours, namely, Geeta Swain(P.W.4) and Shanti Panda (P.W.3). Thereafter, the informant (P.W.1) proceeded to the nearby ditch and found his brother (Mohan Dora) was lying dead inside the ditch with bleeding injuries. So, the informant went to Nayapalli Police Station and lodged the report. Police registered the case and took up investigation and after completion of the investigation, charge - sheet was filed against the present appellant and other acquitted accused persons under Section 302/34 IPC.

(3.) IN order to bring home the charge, during trial the prosecution examined as many as 11 witnesses including the doctor and the investigating officer. The defence examined none despite being provided with said opportunity. The prosecution exhibited 11 documents.