RAGHURAM AGARIYA Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal filed by the appellant-accused under Sec. 374(2) of Cr.P.C. is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 21/2/2017 passed in Sessions Trial No. 135/2016 by the 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Raigarh (C.G.), whereby the appellant-accused has been convicted for offence under Sec. 302 of IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs.1,000.00 and, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for three months.

(2.) Case of the prosecution, in short, is that on 29/8/2016 at about 5:00 p.m. at village-Tolge, Police Station Lailunga, District Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, appellant/accused herein assaulted his uncle-in-law Sukhram (now deceased) by axe, due to which, he suffered grievous injuries and died, thereby committed the offence of murder punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

(3.) The further case of the prosecution, in nutshell, is that the appellant/accused herein married to Nandani (niece of deceased). The appellant along with his wife were lived in the house of Sukhram(deceased) as a son-in-law. Sukhram(deceased) thought that the appellant herein would capture his share of the property/land from him, due to which, he wanted the appellant and his wife lives stay away from his house. Thereafter, the appellant along with his wife started living in front of the house of the Sukhram(deceased), on account of which, dispute arose between the appellant and deceased, consequently, the appellant assaulted Sukhram(deceased) by means of axe, due to which, the deceased suffered grievous injuries and died. The incident was witnessed by complainant-Shankar Lal, son of Sukhram(deceased). Thereafter, the complainant-Shankar Lal lodged a report at Police Station Lailunga, District:Raigarh (C.G.) against the appellant and Police registered FIR (Ex.P-02) in Crime No.254/16 for the offence under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Merg intimation vide Ex.P-01 was registered. Inquest proceedings were conducted vide Ex.P/04 and dead-body of the deceased was sent for postmortem examination and in the postmortem examination report (Ex.P/20), Dr. Yogeshwar Singh Sartiya (PW-07) opined that the cause of death was intracerebral hemorrhage with hemorrhagic shock from hard and sharp object and nature of death is homicidal. Thereafter, appellant-accused was arrested vide Ex.P/15 and his memorandum statement was recorded (Ex.P/06) pursuant to which, seizure of article (Ex.P/08) were made and sent for chemical examination to FSL. In the FSL report (Ex.P-19) human blood was found on axe. After completion of investigation, charge sheet was filed.