- (1.) 1. This Criminal Appeal has been directed against the judgment and order dated 11-10-1990 passed by Shri Allah Raham, the then III Addl. Sessions Judge, Nainital in ST. No. 180 of 1990, State Vs. Ram Naresh convicting and sentencing the appellant u/s 302 I. P. C. to undergo life imprisonment.
(2.) THE facts, in a nutshell, are that the complainant-Munna Brabe lodged an F. I. R. on 10/11-03-1990 at about 1:15 A. M. in the police station Bazpur, u/s 302 I. P. C. against the appellant Ram Naresh alleging therein that one Om Prakash had been living with him since his childhood and he had also worked in his fields. It was also mentioned in the EI. R. that he had been working with others on wages. On 10th March, 1990, Om Prakash went to the sugarcane field of Sardar Baldev Singh alongwith the accused Ram Naresh, mother of Ram Naresh and his sister on tractor trolley. When Om Prakash did not return home in the night, the complainant-Munna Brabe alongwith his son-Basil Brabe went in search of deceased- Om Prakash to the house of Sardar Baldev Singh. Sardar Baldev Singh told them that deceased/ Om Prakash and appellant/ Ram Naresh alighted from the tractor in their colony. THEreafter, the complain ant-Munna Brabe started towards the house of the accused / Ram Naresh and they heard the cry of a person from the field of Sardar Baldev Singh. THEreby, they saw that the accused / Ram Naresh had patal in his hand and he was as saulting the deceased Om Prakash. When the accused Ram Naresh saw the complainant-Munna Brabe and his son Wasil Brabe, he fled away from the spot. THE complainant and his son went to the spot and found Om Prakash dead at the spot at about 11:00 /11:30 A. M. (sic P. M. ). THEreafter, complainant-Munna Brabe came to his house and he got F. l. R. scribed and lodged the same in the police station. THE police reached at the spot in the night itself and the In vestigating Officer started investigation and prepared site plan. He also appre hended the accused / appellant Ram Naresh. THE appellant / Ram Naresh stated to the Investigating Officer that he could discover the 'patal' used in the murder of the deceased and the 'chadar' which he was wearing at the time of the incident from his residence. On the said information, the Investigating Officer made the discovery of the 'patal' as well as of the 'chadar' on 11-03-1990. Af ter completing the investigation, chargesheet was submitted before the court. The accused/appellant was charged u/s 302 I. P. C. The accused/ap pellant denied the charges and claimed trial. The prosecution in support of its case examined Munna Brabe as PW. 1. He is the complainant of the case and he is also the eyewitness of the incident. Wasil Brave-P. W. 2 is the son of P. W. I. Munna Brabe. He is also an eyewitness of the incident. The accused/ appellant had admitted the genuineness of the dis covery memo of patal and chadar (Ext. Ka.-2) discovered at the instance of the appellant, post mortem report (Ex. Ka.-5), Chick FI. R, (Ex. Ka.-6), G. D. (Ex. Ka.-7), site plan (Ex. Ka.-8 and 9) pre pared at the spot by the Investigating Officer, inquest report (Ex. Ka.-10), naksha laas (Ex. ka.-11), police form No. 33 and 13 (Ex. Ka. 12 and 13) by which the body was sent for post mortem and the chargesheet (Ex. Ka. 14 ).
(3.) THE accused/appellant was ex amined u/s 313 Cr. P. C. and he had pleaded not guilty of the offence. He had stated that he had been falsely implicated in this case. He further stated that he had been working with Munna Brabe-complainant. When the payment of his wages was not made, he did not go to the complainant's field and as such, he was annoyed with him and he had implicated him falsely in this case. THE accused/appellant did not adduce any evidence in his defence, The learned Sessions Judge on his appreciation of the evidence in the case held the accused/appellant guilty and convicted and sentenced him under section 302 I. P. C. as aforesaid.;