BIJOY GOWALA Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant criminal appeal under Sec. 374(2) of the Cr.PC has been received from jail on behalf of the accused/appellant Bijoy Gowala for assailing the judgment dtd. 5/3/2019 rendered by the learned Sessions Judge, Tinsukia in Sessions Case No.213(T)/2015, whereby the accused/appellant herein was convicted for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 IPC and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs.50,000.00 (Rupees Fifty Thousand) and in default of payment of fine, further undergo imprisonment for a period of 6(six) months.

(2.) Facts in nutshell relevant and essential for the disposal of the appeal are noted herein below.

(3.) The Investigation was assigned to Pratap Gogoi, Sub-Inspector of Police (PW-20). The witness undertook initial steps of investigation; visited the Tea Estate and prepared a sketch map. He then went to the house of the informant and recorded her statement and the statements of some other witnesses. On 20/3/2015, he claims to have engaged sources to find out about the culprits. On the same day, he visited the line No.7 of Gellapukhuri Tea Estate, where he met a person named Kalia @ Ajit Kharia and recorded his statement, who allegedly divulged before the Investigating Officer that Bijoy Gowala (appellant herein) was involved in the case and that he was targeting the scooty belonging Gohain Babu (the deceased) since a long time. Steps were taken by the Investigating Officer to get the statement of Ajit Kharia recorded under Sec. 164 Cr.PC. He then discovered the dead body of the deceased (Deben Buragohain) on 20/3/2015 concealed in the drain of the garden. An Executive Magistrate was summoned to conduct the inquest upon the dead body and the inquest report (Exhibit-A) was prepared. The dead body was then forwarded to the concerned hospital for conducting autopsy. It may be stated here that autopsy was conducted on the dead body of Deben Buragohain by Dr. Biswajit Saikia (PW-5), who took note of numerous blunt whereupon injuries on the forehead and other body parts of the deceased and a fracture was also noted on the frontal bone. The Doctor opined that cause of death of the deceased was coma as a result of injuries to the cranium and the injury to the brain was individually sufficient to cause the death in the ordinary course of nature. He prepared the post mortem report (Exhibit-2). The Investigating Officer claims to have recovered the scooty of the deceased at Barekuri Digalsaku area. After being informed by the Officer-in-Charge of the Barekuri Police Station, the scooty was seized vide seizure list (Exhibit-4).