Judgment

SHELAT, J. :- Six persons stood their trial before the Sessions Judge, Sangli, the appellant on the charge of murder of one Rukhamabai and the rest under S. 201 read with S. 34, Penal Code, for causing the evidence of the said murder to disappear by burning her dead body in survey No. 178 of village Jarandi. Of these persons, the appellant, hereinafter referred to as accused 1 and accused 2 and 4 are the sons of accused 5, and accused 6 is his wife. The victim was the widow of one Dhondi Mohite, the nephew of accused 5, who after the death of her husband was living with accused 5. The relations between the deceased and the accused were, it was said, normal on the whole, but during the past year before the alleged murder, accused 5 was insisting upon the deceased either transferring a piece of land standing in her name in favour of the accused, or adopting one of his sons. The motive for the crime alleged by the prosecution was the refusal of the deceased to follow either of the two courses and the consequent fear of the accused that Rukhama would at any time convey it to one of her other relations.

2. On December 9, 1966 at about 9 a.m., Rukhama started for her field to pluck ground nut creepers. On her way, she passed through the field of P.W. Shivram Ramoshi and took along with her his daughter Phuba, aged about 12 years, to help her in her work. While Rukhama and Phuba were pulling out the ground-nut creepers from the ground, accused 1 came there armed with an axe. He asked Rukhama what her plan was for that day and at once struck her on her neck with the axe he had with him. Rukhama collapsed under that blow and Phuba frightened at what she had seen, ran to her father in the neighbouring field and told him of what she had seen. At that very juncture, Shivram also heard the screams of Sundarabai, the wife of accused 2, who also had seen the incident from a field nearby, where she was working at that time. On Shivram going to the place where Sundarabai was, the two of them went to the place where Rukhama was lying dead. Shivram then went to the field of one Tatoba nearby and told Tatoba that accused 1 had killed Rukhama. After a little while, the two of them saw accused 2 and 4 carrying away the dead body of Rukhama in a blanket to survey No. 178 belonging to the accused. Seeing this, they went to Dattu Pawar, the brother of Rukhama, who also was working in his field. After telling Dattu of what had happened, Shivam and Tatoba went towards the village to inform the Kotwal and to find out where the village Police Patil was. Dattu went towards the accused s field and saw the dead body of Rukhama having been set on fire and all the accused standing nearby, accused 1 being still with the axe. When Dattu went near the place, accused 1 threatened him with evil consequences if he proceeded to where the body was being burnt. In the meantime, some relations of Rukhama came there and seeing them the accused went away. Those relations then dragged out the body of Rukhama from the burning pyre. Duttu thereafter contacted the Police Patil. Both of them went to Tasgaon Police Station about 22 miles away from the village reaching there at about sunset. The delay in reaching the police station was due to the fact that they had to wait for some conveyance to traverse that distance, such a conveyance becoming available to them only in the afternoon. At the police station Dattu gave his first information report. Thereafter the police investigation commenced, during the course of which the police took charge of the charred body of the deceased and sent it for postmortem. Dr. Gadre who performed the post-mortem, found, apart from the burn injuries, two external injuries on the body:

(1) a wound 2" x 1 1/2" upto the vertebral column upon the right of the neck just below the right ear, and

(2) a wound 2 1/2" x 1/2" with the fracture of the vertebral column.

An internal examination by him revealed that part of the occipital bone under injury No