ANAND KUMAR Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant appeal under Section 374 (2) has been preferred by the appellant Anand Kumar being aggrieved of the judgment dated 15.06.2016 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Rajgarh, District Churu in Sessions Case No.29/2011, whereby he has been convicted for the offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment alongwith a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default of payment of fine, further to undergo additional simple imprisonment of six months.

(2.) Brief facts relevant and essential for the disposal of the instant appeal are noted hereinbelow. Dharmveer (P.W.1) lodged a written report (Ex.P/1) with the SHO, Police Station Rajgarh at the Police Station Rajgarh on 12.04.2011 at 11.05 a.m. alleging inter alia that his younger brother Rajesh was in the company of Anand S/o Maidhan, the appellant herein, for the last 5 days. In the previous night i.e. on 11.04.2011 at about 09.30 p.m., Anand took Rajesh with him on the pretext that his gram crop had to be harvested. They went to the room of Anand and talked with each other for some time. The complainant returned to his house and went to sleep. In the morning, he got a call from Charan Singh, who informed him that Rajesh was lying dead near the road. Narsingh also told about the same fact. The complainant called the Sarpanch. He suspected that Anand had murdered his brother Rajesh and has absconded from his house. The dead body of his brother was lying on the edge of the road in front of Anand's house.

(3.) On the basis of the report aforesaid, an FIR No.136/2011 (Ex.P/2) came to be registered at the Police Station Rajgarh for the offence under Section 302 IPC and the investigation was undertaken by Shri Rampratap (P.W.6) the SHO, Police Station Rajgarh. The requisite formalities of investigation, viz. Preparation of site inspection plan, seizure memo of soil etc., were carried out. The dead body of Rajesh was subjected to postmortem by a medical board constituted at the Government Hospital, Rajgarh, which issued the postmortem report (Ex.P/12), as per which, no less than 16 incised wounds were noticed on the body of Rajesh. The board opined that the cause of death of Rajesh was shock due to excessive bleeding caused by extensive antemortem injuries on the face and skull, which were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The accused, who had absconded from the village, was apprehended on 21.04.2011 vide arrest memo Ex.P/15. The Investigating Officer (P.W.6) claims that on the basis of the information supplied by the accused under Section 27 of the Evidence Act (Ex.P/16), a Khukhari, allegedly stained with blood and said to have been used in the incident, was recovered vide seizure memo Ex.P/10. The recovered articles, viz. clothes of the deceased, the samples of soil and the Khukhari, were forwarded to the FSL for chemical and serological examination from where a FSL Report (Ex.P/17) was received.