Judgment

AHMADI, J.:- Meera Srivastava, a young woman aged about 25 years, died of burns on the night between 20th and 21st July, 1974 at about 2.30 a.m. in the two room apartment of her husband Ashok Kumar Srivastava, original accused No. 1. The marriage had taken place less than a year ago on 13th May, 1973 at Banaras. Both the family of the deceased and the family of the husband hail from Banaras but after their wedding Ashok who was serving as an Assistant Engineer was transferred to Lucknow where he had hired a two room first floor apartment for his residence. The ground floor was occupied by the landlord. The First Information Report was lodged by P. W. 2 J. P. Srivastava, father of the unfortunate woman, after he rushed by taxi to Lucknow on learning about the incident. The offence of murder was registered and in the course of investigation statements of P. W. 1 Prabhat Kumar and P. W. 4 Rajendra Prasad, both brothers residing on the ground floor, came to be recorded. Statements of other witnesses including P.W. 3 Ram Raj Mishra, a fire brigade man, and P. W. 5 S. K. Srivastava, brother of the deceased, were also recorded. On a consideration of the evidence of P. Ws. 1 to 5 a