TEK CHAND Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this appeal filed under Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, convict Tek Chand has assailed the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 26.06.2008, passed by learned Sessions Judge Chamba, Division Chamba, H.P., in Sessions Trial No.61 of 2007. The appellant stands convicted for having committed an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and pay fine of Rs. 10,000/- and in default thereof to further undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three months.

(2.) It is the case of prosecution that convict Tek Chand son of Bishani was having animosity with deceased Tej Lal son of Chetu, a resident of Village Guwari. Deceased had two brothers, namely, Puran, who was also residing in the same Village and complainant Dev Raj (PW.1), who was residing in Village Satloga. On 01.04.2007, Tej Lal had gone to Tarela Mandir with Hari Lal (not examined). Thereafter, Tek Chand accused, Tej Lal deceased and Tek Singh (not examined) went to the house of Sh. Sahab Singh (PW.3) in Village Satloga, where they consumed liquor. After sometime, Tek Chand and Tej Lal proceeded for their Village and Tek Singh went to his house. In the morning of 02.04.2007, body of Tej Lal was found lying in the fields of Hari Lal (not examined). Police was informed and Inspector Hem Singh Saklani (PW.10) arrived at the spot where statements (Ex.PA) of Dev Raj (PW.1), Fattu Ram (PW.2) and Puran Chand (not examined) were recorded. FIR No. 31 of 2007 (Ex.PW.7/A), dated 04.04.2007 was registered by Head Constable Arvind Kumar at Police Station Tissa, District Chamba, under the provisions of Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Inquest report dated 02.04.2007 (Ex.PW.10/A) was prepared. The dead body was sent for postmortem, which was conducted by Doctor Dipesh (PW.4) on 02.04.2007, who issued MLC (Ex.PW.4/D), based on the report (Ex.PW.4/C) of the Chemical Analyst. The deceased had died due to strangulation. The police visited the spot again on 04.04.2007, prepared site plan (Ex.PW.10/B), where statements of other witnesses were recorded under Section 161 Cr.PC. On the basis of suspicion, accused who was arrested on 05.04.2007, made a disclosure statement (Ex.PW.2/C) in the presence of Fattu Ram (PW.2), on the basis of which his blood stained clothes were recovered.

(3.) Accused was charged for having committed an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC to which he did not plead guilty and claimed trial.