KHARGA BAHADUR PRADHAN Vs. STATE OF SIKKIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Appeal is directed against the Judgment dated 24.02.2014 passed in Sessions Trial Case No. 816/2013 by the Sessions Judge, Special Division-II at Gangtok, East Sikkim. By the impugned judgment, the Appellant has been convicted under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.10,000/- with default sentence of rigorous imprisonment for two years.

(2.) The facts, briefly, stated are as under:-

(3.) Mr. N. Rai, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the Appellant, has argued that the circumstance of last seen was not established; that apart there was a long time gap between the deceased allegedly seen alive in the company of the Appellant and the dead body found; the alleged disclosure/discovery statement (Exbt. 20) was a confession to the police officer and, in fact, nothing was discovered from it; the articles like shawl, chappal and an empty bottle of rum were already discovered by the villagers, which were found at a nearby place of the dead body; those articles were not identified to be that of the deceased; there is no evidence on record to show that either the deceased was pregnant or there was any other reason to commit the murder, therefore, even if the Appellant was having illicit relation with the deceased, there was no motive for him to commit her murder.