- (1.)The petitioner is convicted for the offences punishable under Section 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the trial court. For offence under Section 302 IPC, he is sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs.2,000/-. For committing offence under Section 201 IPC, the petitioner is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 7 years and also to pay a fine of Rs.500/-. Both the sentences are ordered to be run concurrently. The petitioner appealed to the High Court challenging the conviction. However, the High Court has dismissed said appeal maintaining the conviction and sentence of the petitioner vide impugned judgment dated 12th January 2010. Not satisfied and undeterred, present Special Leave Petition is filed questioning the validity of the conviction, as indicted above.
(2.)The charge against the petitioner was of murdering a boy named Madhusudhan (hereinafter referred to as 'deceased') aged about 12 years who was studying in a Boarding School at Bellur, Karnataka. His mother was one Smt.Sujatha (PW-6) who is the wife of PW-9. It appears that because of strained relations developed between Sujatha and her husband, her husband had deserted her about 7 years prior to the incident. The petitioner had developed intimacy with Sujatha and were in a live-in relationship.
(3.)As per the prosecution story, the accused found the deceased to be an impediment in his relationship with Sujatha. On the fateful day i.e. on 16.9.2003 he went to the school of the deceased and took the deceased with him from Bellur to a hotel at Srirangapatnam. He hired a room in the lodge giving his name K.Raju, resident of Rajajinagar, Bangalore and signed the hotel register in the said name. The deceased and accused stayed in room No.12 in that lodge. The allegation of the prosecution is that the petitioner administered poisonous food to the child, who after consuming the said food, died. The petitioner left the hotel at around at 10.30 p.m. On the next morning at about 7.30 a.m., the Manager of the hotel (PW-1) found through window of the room that the child was lying on the floor. He lodged the complaint whereupon police came. After the door of the room was broken open, it was found that child was lying dead.