- (1.) Rai Singh, the appellant before us, stands convicted and sentenced under Section 302, IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 read with Section 6 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1985 for committing the murder of Smt. Parkashi, wife of Attar Singh, with a country made pistol.
(2.) (a). According to the prosecution case, in the early hours of January 30, 1987 when Smt. Parkashi was sleeping in her house in village Chhajpur under Panipat Police Station with her two children - her husband being away to Panipat where he worked as a Chowkidar in a factory - she heard a knock on the door. After lighting an earthen lamp when she opened the door she found the appellant standing outside. He asked her as to her husband"s whereabout and gave out that he wanted to take revenge as he (her husband) had assaulted him a fortnight ago. When she replied that he had gone to Panipat the appellant told Smt. Parkashi to accompany him. When she refused he started dragging her out. In course of the scuffle that ensued, the appellant brought out a pistol and fired at Smt. Parkashi, as a result of which she fell down dead. The appellant then ran away with the pistol. Attar Singh was then sent for and after his arrival their son Mohkam Singh (P.W. 3) went to the police station and lodged a report. (b) S.I. Mehar Singh (P.W. 7) took up investigation of the case and went to the spot along with other police officials. He held inquest upon the dead body of Smt. Parkashi and sent it for postmortem examination. He then prepared a rough site plan and seized some blood soaked earth from the spot which he packeted and sealed. (c) During investigation the appellant was arrested and pursuant to his statement that he had concealed the pistol and a live cartridge under a tree near Sanauli barrier the same were recovered. The pistol and the pellets, which had earlier been recovered from inside the body of the deceased by P.W.1 at the time of autopsy, were sent to the Director, Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Madhuban for their examination. In their reports FSL opined that the pistol was in working order and the pellets recovered from the body of the deceased could be parts of the empty cartridge case that was found embedded in the barrel of the pistol. On receipt of those reports and completion of investigation the Investigating Officer submitted charge-sheet against the appellant. (d) As regards the motive for the murder it was alleged by the prosecution that the deceased and the appellant originally hailed from two neighbouring villages in the State of Uttar Pradesh and that they were close to each other. After her marriage to Attar Singh the deceased came to reside with him at Chhajpur. The appellant still continued to visit her and an illicit relationship grew between them. A fortnight before her murder the appellant had again come to meet her when her husband turned him out after assaulting him with a lathi.
(3.) Though the appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder levelled against him, he admitted that he had developed illicit intimacy with Parkashi and that about a fortnight prior to the incident Attar Singh had found them in a compromising position. He also admitted his presence in the house of the deceased on the fateful night. According to him, he was called by the deceased herself and when her husband returned early in the morning he (her husband) tried to kill him but somehow he made good his escape. He did not know what happened thereafter.;