M.K.Mukherjee, J. - (1.)This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated April 28, 1981, passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Hamirpur, convicting the appellant under sections 302 and 392 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing him to imprisonment for life.
(2.)Bereft of details, the case of the prosecution is as follows: The de facto complainant Asharam (P.W. 2) is a resident of village Nekpura within the police station of Panwari. Lallu (since deceased) was the maternal cousin of Asharam and he used to live in the same village. The wife of Laliu had conceived before her marriage and therefore Amarju, brother of Asharam, stopped dining with Latlu. Lallu felt aggrieved thereby and in course of a quarrel over that issue he had beaten Amarju for which criminal case was started. About two years thereafter on 7.10.1980 to be precise, at or about 8 A.M., when Amarju was coming back home from the Nar with a bundle of grass on his head and a Pharsa on his shoulder towards his house and had reached a place near a well of the village, Lallu along with one stranger (the appellant before us) came to the well, Coming there, both Lallu and the appellant started assaulting Amarju from behind with a spear and pharsa respectively. Immediately thereupon Amarjufled away from that place, but he was chased by the two miscreants. On being so chased, Amarju tried to enter the house of Mishri Lal (P.W. 3), but before he could enter the house, he was again assaulted by Lallu and the appellant fell down dead there. Thereafter, the two miscreants went to the shop of Ram Pal and demanded a sum of Rs. 20,000/- by openly giving out that they had committed a murder. When Ram Pal expressed his inability to pay any cash, the miscreants took away some clothes from his shop, put them in a bag and went to the house of Asha Ram Lodhi (P.W. 5) of the village. There they snatched away silver and gold ornaments from the person of his wife and ran towards a tank. Then the villagers, armed with various weapons, chased them and ultimately succeeded in killing Lallu and arresting the appellant with the stolen articles. The appellant was then taken to the village Pradhan and on interrogation he disclosed his name as Kripa Ram and his place-of residence as village Pagra within the police station of Garotha in the district of Janshi. A P harsa was also recovered from his possession.
(3.)Asharam (P.W. 2) then went to Ranwari Police Station and lodged an information about the incident. On that information, a case under sections 3021392 of the Indian Penal Code was registered and S.0. Lal Bahadur Verma (P.W. 6) took up its investigation. He came to the village, held inquest upon the dead bodies of Amarju and Lallu and sent them for post-mortem examination. He prepared a Sketch map of the locale seized blood-stained and ordinary earth from the place of occurrence and examined witnesses. On completion of investigation, he submitted charge-sheet