C.V. Sirpurkar, J. - (1.) This criminal appeal under Section 374 (2) of the Cr.P.C. filed on behalf of the appellant/accused Pooranlal is directed against the judgment dated 17.8.2005 passed by the Court of Sessions Judge, District Balghat in Sessions Trial No. 28/2005, whereby the accused/appellant Pooranlal was convicted of the offence punishable under Section 302 of the I.P.C. for having committed murder of deceased Saligram and was sentenced to imprisonment for life and to pay a fine in the sum of Rs.1000/-. In default of payment of fine, he was directed to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for a period of 6 months.
(2.) The prosecution case before the trial Court may be summarized as hereunder: Accused Pooranlal had inimical relations with deceased Saligram on account of partition of agricultural land. At about 4:00 p.m. on 30.10.2004, deceased Saligram was sitting on the embankment of his field grazing his cattle. At that time, accused Pooranlal arrived on the spot armed with an axe. He assaulted the deceased with the axe on the neck. As a result, deceased Saligram died on the spot. At that time, witnesses Samal Singh (PW-3), his wife Kaushalya and Shobhelal (PW-2) were present in the adjacent fields. They witnessed the incident. Samal Singh asked the accused as to why he had killed deceased Saligram; however, accused Pooranlal ran away. Thereafter, Samal Singh returned to the village and informed the villagers including Saligram's sonin-law Mohan Lal, who lodged the FIR (Ex.P-2) at about 8:00 p.m. the same evening in Police Station Malajkhand, District Balaghat. During the investigation, accused was arrested and the axe allegedly used in commission of the offence was seized from his possession on the basis of the disclosure statement (Ex.P-10) made by him under Section 27 of the Evidence Act. In serological examination conducted in Forensic Science Laboratory, Sagar, human blood was found on the axe and the clothes seized from the possession of accused Pooranlal.
(3.) The trial Court framed a charge under Section 302 of the I.P.C. against the accused Pooranlal. However, he abjured the guilt and claimed to be tried. In his examination under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C., he stated that eye witnesses Samal Singh @ Guhdad, Shobhelal and Budh Singh are companions and on account of previous enmity, they have conspired and ganged up against him and falsely implicated him in the case.;