TALAPATRA,J. - (1.) The appellant was charged under Section 302 of the IPC for committing murder of one Anjan Gour on 06.08.2014 at about 22.00 hrs. and after regular trial, he has been convicted under Section 302 of the IPC by returning the following finding : 'On careful scrutiny of the evidence of the eye witness (PW-12) and other witnesses (PW-9, PW-11 and PW-13) it is clearly found that the deceased Arjun Gour sustained cut injuries on his neck and other vital parts of his body for which he died on spot and the said injuries were caused by accused Manik Gour by dao and the accused also admitted of killing Arjun Gour to PW-10 and PW-15 by coming to their house on that night. The medical evidence and post-mortem report also supported their evidence. So in circumstances of this case no other presumption can be drawn except the involvement of the accused Manik Gour in killing of his nephew Arjun Gour.'
(2.) Pursuant to the said conviction, the appellant was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.1000/- with default stipulation. The detention that has been suffered by the appellant has been directed to be set off from the substantive period of imprisonment. The said judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 26.06.2015 delivered in ST 23(T-1) of 2014 by the Additional Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Khowai have been challenged in this appeal.
(3.) The genesis of the prosecution case can be located in the written complaint dated 04.08.2014 [Exbt.4 and Exbt.8] filed to the officer in charge, Khowai Police Station by one Mallika Gour (Debbarma) revealing that on 06.08.2014 at about 10 o clock at night she heard the loud of her brother Arjun Gour and she rushed to the culvert in front of the house of Raj Kumar Gour on the road of village East Athaibari. Having appeared there, she saw her uncle Manik Gour, the appellant running towards his own house with a dao in his hand. She noticed by the light of torch in her hand that her brother Arjun Gour was lying dead in a pull of blood on the road beside the culvert. She shouted by noticing some marks of hacking blow over his throat in the light of torch. The villagers from the nearby village came to the place of occurrence and found her brother dead. In the written complaint she has asserted as under : 'Earlier also altercation took place between my uncle and my elder brother centering an issue over land and he was beaten up and was given threats of killing several times. Yesterday also, my uncle fought with my elder brother centering the issue of land and (he) hacked my elder brother to death by sharp edged 'dao' centering this very land dispute.' Based on the said complaint, Khowai P.S. case No.82/2014 under section 302 of the IPC was registered and taken up for investigation. On completion of the investigation, as it appears from the records the final report was submitted in the court sending the appellant to face the trial. On commitment of the police papers from the court of the Magistrate, the Additional Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Khowai [hereinafter referred to as the trial Judge] took cognizance and framed the charge under Section 302 of the IPC, which was denied by the appellant. Further, the appellant claimed to be tried in accordance with law.;