JUDGMENT

SARKARIA, J.:— This appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment of the High Court of Rajasthan, by which the conviction and death sentence imposed on the appellant by the Sessions Judge in respect of the murders of Jarnail Singh, Swaran Singh, Smt. Dipo and Guddi, was confirmed.

2. The facts giving rise to the appeal are as under :-

3. On May 2, 1974, Jarnail Singh and Shyamdas were staying in the Gurdwara of village Karadwala. Karam Singh, the Granthi of Gurdwara, had gone away to Sadul Sahar. There, in the morning of May 3, 1971, he received information that somebody had murdered Jarnail Sigh and Shyamdas within the premises of the Gurdwara. Karam Singh lost no time in reaching the scene of occurrence, in a jeep. He found the dead body of Jarnail Singh drenched in blood on the roof. Nearby, on a charpai, Shyamdas lay unconscious with head injury. The locks of the room and of the almirah were lying broken. Karam Singh, also, came to know from the persons gathered there, that in the neighbouring house also, Swaran Singh and his wife, Smt. Dipo, had been murdered, and their daughter, Guddi was lying unconscious. Guddi had also suffered head injuries. The household articles were lying scattered and a blood-stained Ghota (a heavy wooden pestle) was lying in the court-yard of the house of Swaran Singh deceased.

4. Karam Singh, then, went to the Police Station, Sadul Sahar, and lodged a First Information Report on the basis of the preceding facts. In the report, he also mentioned the presence of footprints of the suspected culprit at the scene of occurrence.

5. After registering a case, Shri Bhanwar Lal, Station House Officer (P. W. 18) reached the spot and prepared the siteplan (Ex. P-16) and the connected inspection memo (Ex. P-16-A), in which he noted all the relevant physical facts noticed by him at the site. The Police Officer, also held inquest regarding the deaths and prepared the inquest reports. He found on Thali (Art. 4) and two tumblers (Arts. 2 and 3) lying there. He examined them. There appeared to be finger-prints on these articles. He, therefore, seized them and prepared a memo (Ex. P.-31). He also found there one pair of wooden Khaddao (Arts. 7 and 8). He seized them. He also noticed one footprint in the house of Swaran Singh and two more outside that house. He prepared the moulds of these foot-prints. He also prepared a mould of the foot-print which he noticed in the Gurdwara. He also took into possession the bloodstained Ghota and sealed it into a parcel.

6. Despite investigation, no clue of the murder was found till another incident took place in Ganganagar District, after some time. The modus operandi for committing the theft adopted by the miscreant was similar.

7. Since several crimes of the same pattern had been committed in various places in District Ganganagar, the investigations were conducted by several police officers under the co-ordinated supervisions of Shri Shyam Pratap Singh Rathore, Superintendent of Police. Bhanwar Lal, Station House Officer, Sadar Ganganagar was also one of those investigators. According to the statement of Shri Rathore, about 60 murders in 29 cases of the same pattern in the neighbouring areas in the States of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab were under investigation.

8. On May 25, 1974, Shri Rathore got some clue, on account of which his suspicion fell on Shankaria. His suspicion was confirmed on May 31, 1974. He, therefore, accompanied by Subhash, went to Bhatinda and there arrested Shankaria on June 3, 1974 at about 2.30 p.m He searched Shankarias person and prepared the memo (Ex. P-50) of the articles recovered from his person. One of the articles thus recovered was a rikshaw pulling licence issued by the Municipal Committee, Bhatinda, in the name of Rattan Lal son of Jetha Ram. After making the appellant to cover his face, he took him to Ganganagar, where he remained in the police custody till 12-6-1974. On that day, the appellant was taken to Raisinghnagar and pr