Judgment

VAIDIALINGAM, J.-In this appeal, by special leave, the appellant challenges his conviction and sentence imposed upon him for offences under Sections 302, 201, read with Sections 34 and 394, I.P.C. For the offence of murder under Section 302 he has been sentenced to death and for the offences under Sections 201 and 394 he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 7 years and 10 years respectively and the sentences have been directed to run concurrently. The appellant s conviction for all these offences have been confirmed by the High Court of Allahabad, by its judgment dated November 13, 1967.

2. The prosecution case, in brief, was as follows. The appellant, who was well known to and was friendly with one Kalawati, an old woman of about 70 years of age, had called on her on the morning of September 19, 1966 and asked her to come to his Gher in the evening to take some maize which he had got ready for her. Kalawati went to the Gher of the appellant at about 4 p. m., the same day. The appellant, with the assistance of another person Kripal (since deceased) killed Kalawati by strangling her and removed from her body gold and silver ornaments which she was wearing. The dead body which was first concealed in a heap of chaff in the Gher of the appellant was later on thrown into a well known as Chamaron Wala Kuan. The tenants living in the house of Kalawati, as well as some neighbours, noticed the disappearance of Kalawati the same night and made a search which was of no avail. Later in the night of September 19, 1966 the appellant is stated to have come to the house of Kalawati and given out that the latter had gone away to the village of Garhi along with Kripal and that he had been asked to sleep in her house ; but the tenants turned him away. The dead body of Kalawati was found floating in the well on the morning of September 20, 1966 and a report, Exhibit Ka-4, was lodged with the police by one Mahendra Dutt, P. W. 11, who was a near relation of the deceased. After inquest proceedings, the post-mortem was conducted by the Medical Officer, P. W. 3. The post-mortem certificate is Exhibit Ka-1. The opinion of the Doctor is that death of Kalawati is due to asphyxia as a result of strangulation.

3. The Station Officer, Mowana Police Station, on receiving information from an informer suspected the appellant as the culprit and consequently arrested him on September 21, 1966. The appellant is stated to have taken the police officers as well as certain witnesses to his house and taken out from his locked box six gold bangles, four gold ear-rings, a gold ear top and four silver lachchas. These articles were identified as the property of the deceased by P. Ws. 1, 2 and 10.

4. The defence of the accused was one of complete denial and he also disputed the truth of any ornaments having been produced by him from his locked box after his arrest. He further pleaded that he had been falsely implicated in the case because of the hostility of the police as he has refused to give evidence in a gambling case. He also pleaded that he had been falsely implicated by the police at the instigation of one Kishan Chand, between whom and his father there had been bitter enmity in connection with certain election proceedings.

5. That Kalawati was the victim of murder is clear from the evidence oi the Doctor P. W. 3. He has spoken to the fact that the death of Kalawati was due to asphyxia brought about by strangulation. He has also mentioned in his post-mortem certificate, Exhibit Ka-1, that there was a contusion 3 1/2" X 2 1/2" extending from the right side of the neck near the collar bone on to the upper part of the chest, and the soft tissues of the neck had been ruptured both in front and at the sides of the neck, while the hyoid bone was fractured. There were no eye-witnesses as such for the murder and for establishing the guilt of the appellant the prosecution relied entirely on circumstantial evidence. The prosecution relied on the foll