PURRU ALIAS LAXMI NARAYAN Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has preferred this criminal appeal through the Superintendent of Jail, Bilaspur, being aggrieved by the judgment dated 29-8-97 of conviction passed by the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Bilaspur by which the learned Additional Sessions Judge after holding the accused/appellant guilty convicted him under Section 302 of the I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs. 100/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo simple imprisonment for fifteen days.

(2.) The relevant facts for the disposal of this appeal are that deceased Khemu Singh, the Sarpanch of village was the son of Purani Singh. On 10-9-96 at about 4 p.m. when Amarnath was sitting on the Chabutara of Shivaram and Shivaram was also present there, at that time accused/appellant Purru alias Laxmi Narayan also came there and after some time deceased Sarpanch Khemu Singh also came and asked the accused/ appellant as to why he is regularly roaming in the street. On this statement of the deceased, some altercation took place between the two and thereafter, a scuffle took place between them in which the deceased fell down on the earth. Thereafter, the accused/ appellant sat on the chest of the deceased and caused the injuries by chappal and fist on his throat and beat the deceased and thereafter, the accused/appellant filed from the scene of occurrence. The father of the deceased Purani Singh was informed about the incident and when he came, Khemu Singh was lying unconscious. The deceased was first taken to the residence from there he was taken to the hospital in a car but, he died on the way. On receiving this information, the Station House Officer, Police Station : Banki Mongra registered a case vide Crime No. 161/96, for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the I.P.C. and took up the investigation. He recorded the statement of the witnesses and in the presence of the witnesses he prepared the Naksha Panchayatnama of the dead body of the deceased Ex. P-2 and the dead body was sent to the Primary Health Centre, Banki Mongra, Distt. Bilaspur for post-mortem examination. After conducting the post mortem, the doctor prepared the post-mortem report Ex. P-3. The map of the site was prepared and after completion of the investigation the Police filed the charge-sheet against the accused/appellant. The charge was framed against the accused/appellant by the learned Additional Sessions Judge. The accused/appellant denied the charge? In order to prove the offence against the accused/ appellant, in all nine witnesses were examined by the prosecution. The statement of the accused/appellant under Section 313 of the Cr. P.C. was recorded in which he either stated that he does not know anything or that the statements of the witnesses are false and ultimately in the last, he said that he is innocent and he has been falsely implicated in the crime. After hearing the arguments, the learned Additional Sessions Jude convicted the accused/appellant as mentioned above.

(3.) We have heard the learned counsel for the accused/appellant and the learned Deputy Advocate General for the State/respondent.