- (1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 24.06.2011 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in Criminal Appeal No. 1551 of 2005 by which the acquittal of the appellant made by the learned trial Court under Section 302 IPC has been reversed.
(2.) The prosecution case against the accused is built on circumstantial evidence, there being no eyewitness to the occurrence.
(3.) Having considered the evidence of PW-2 and PW-3, (parents of the deceased); the evidence of PW-7 and 8, the Manager and the Room Boy of the Padmashree Lodge from where the dead body was recovered and the evidence of PW-23, the Investigating Officer, we are satisfied that the following circumstances have been proved by the prosecution as against the accused:- (i) The accused and the deceased who were young in age were known to each other. (ii) On a particular date the deceased left home saying that she would go to her aunt's place. (iii) PW-2, the father of the deceased, visited his sister's place (aunt of the deceased) a week later and came to know that the deceased was there. (iv) A few days later, on being informed by PW-4, PW-2 went to Chickmagalur and thereafter he was taken to the Basavanahalli Police Station where he identified the photograph of the deceased along with her wearing apparels. (v) The dead body was recovered from Room No. 102 of Padmashree Lodge at Chickmagalur in a highly decomposed state. (vi) PW-7, Manager of the Lodge and PW-8, Room Boy working in Lodge, identified the accused as the person to whom Room No. 102 was allotted and who had been staying in the Lodge with the young girl. (vii) On postmortem, the deceased was found to be pregnant at the time of her death. (viii) The hand-writing of the entries against Room No. 102 in the Register of the Lodge and the specimen hand-writing of the accused were found by the Hand-Writing Expert to be the same.;