VINOD KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Vinod Kumar (hereinafter the accused) held guilty of an offence under S. 302, of Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life has preferrd this appeal for setting aside the judgment and order of conviction and sentence recorded against him by the learned Additional Sessions Judge,Kaithal dated 4-5-1994.

(2.) The brief facts of the case giving rise to this appeal are that one Ramanand Sarswati, Pujari of Hanuman temple in village Teontha was done away by the accused on 22-5-1992 at 5.15 a.m. in presence of the complainant Ram Sarup PW 1 and another prosecution witness-Sunil Kumar who afterwards was given up by the prosecution. According to the complainant the accused inflicted knife blow on the left side of the abdomen of the deceased (hereinafter called the Baba) saying that he would teach him a lesson for having levelled the allegations of theft against him earlier and the said baba fell down and part of his intestines came out. The accused ran away from the spot with the weapon of offence by jumping over a wall of the temple. The said Baba was made to lie by the complainant at a place in front of his room in the temple and he succumbed to the injuries.

(3.) The motive behind the murder was that the accused had taken away the cash of the temple from the said Baba and he was chased by Kam Singh and others. The cash was recovered from the accused and returned to Baba.