- (1.)The appellant was prosecuted for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short) in Sessions Case No.127/1999 on the file of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Achalpur. By a judgment dated 2.8.2000, the appellant came to be convicted for the offence as charged and has been sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.200/, in default to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for one month. Feeling aggrieved, the appellant has come up in appeal.
(2.)The prosecution case may be briefly stated thus :
That, the appellant and now deceased Rajendra Shinde were residents of village Kandli. Fulabai is the wife of the appellant. It is said that the appellant and his wife were serving with deceased Rajendra. The appellant was suspecting that deceased Rajendra had illicit relations with his wife Fulabai. It is said to be the motive behind the offence. The incident in question had occurred at 19.5.1999 at about 7.00 pm near Kavita Talkies, in front of the house of PW5 Mohd. KhalilulRahman @ Babbu Musalman. While the deceased was passing by the road, in front of Kavita Talkies, the appellant, armed with a knife, had assaulted the deceased on his buttock, back and neck, on account of which, Rajendra sustained bleeding injuries. The appellant, thereafter, ran away from the spot.

PW4 Manohar Shinde, who is brother of the deceased, had incidently gone for purchasing cotton oilcakes in the market and had witnessed the incident of assault. There were several other persons, who had also gathered at the spot. PW4 Manohar took the deceased to the Police Station, Paratwada. Thereafter, he was taken to Cottage Hospital at Achalpur, where he was examined by PW8 Dr. Vinayak Nathe. After administering some initial treatment, the deceased was shifted to the Government Hospital at Amravati, where he was an indoor patient till June 1999 when he was advised to be shifted to Government Medical College (GMC) Nagpur.

From 20.6.1999 to 25.6.1999, the deceased was admitted in the Government Medical College and Hospital at Nagpur and was eventually discharged on 25.6.1999 and had returned home. It appears that on account of certain complications, the deceased developed paraplegia and bed sores and was again admitted in the Cottage Hospital at Achalpur about six days prior to 13.7.1999. Rajendra Shinde died on 13.7.1999 on account of septicemia.

(3.)On the basis of a report lodged by the deceased at Police Station, Paratwada, an offence came to be registered as per F.I.R. Exh. 42 initially u/s 307 of IPC, which was subsequently converted to one u/s 302 of IPC on death of Rajendra Shinde. During the course of investigation, a spot panchanama of the scene of occurrence was recorded. The investigating officer recorded the statements of the witnesses. It is said that the appellant took to his heels and was absconding and was eventually arrested on 12.8.1999. While in custody, the appellant gave a confessional statement offering to produce the knife. Accordingly, he led the police and panchas to the hut of one Shankar situated near Lalpul and produced a knife, which was accordingly sealed and seized. The clothes of the deceased as well as that of PW4 Manohar, the weapon used, as also the sample earth and earth smeared with blood was seized from the spot of occurrence. The seized articles were sent for the report of the Chemical Analyser. On completion of investigation, a chargesheet came to be filed in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, First Class at Achalpur, which was committed to the Court of Sessions.