JUDGMENT:

S.B. Sinha, J.

1. Appellant was convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life on the charge of murder of his wife Mala Borthakur and adopted daughter Munni @ Mayuri. He was residing with the first deceased at Sibnath Bhattacharya Lane, Chiring Chapari in the town of Dibrugarh.

2. He is an Engineer by profession. At about 4.00/5.00 p.m. on 25.5.1999, when he returned from his place of work, he allegedly knocked the main door of the house. There was no response. He called his immediate neighbour Pranab Kumar Borah (PW1).

3. PW1, whose house is separated only by a wall, opened the window and asked him as to what had happened. To that the appellant allegedly replied "they are not opening the door". He responded thereto saying that "they are perhaps sleeping". He went to the rear side of the premises. He found the same open.

4. He was heard shouting loudly calling the name of his daughter Munni and wife Mala several times. He found his wife and daughter lying dead on separate beds. After a few minutes, Appellant called PW1 again shouting "Boruah! Boruah!". On his query as to what had happened, he asked him to come and have a look. PW1 found the wife of the deceased lying on the bed with her face down. He also saw the lower part of her legs looking pale. His attention was also drawn by the appellant to the corpse of Munni. The leg of the girl was shaken by the appellant stating, "look, she is also not moving". Appellant remarked, "Mala should not have done this".

5. PW1, thereafter, asked somebody (whose name has not been disclosed) to inform the police. As the said request was not complied, he himself informed the officer-in-charge of the police station about the incident.

6. For the purpose of investigation, a sniffer dog was brought into service. The dog was taken near the dead bodies. It allegedly went close to the appellant only and no one else when he was inside the house.

7. PW1, in his deposition before the Court opined that even though such a shocking incident had taken place, Borthakur did not show any reaction as he should have. He, however, in his cross-examination stated having seen the occurrence, I had lost my senses. He too might have been out of his mind to some extent. Reactions vary with people. As the deceased were accused persons wife and daughter respectively, his reaction should have been more acute. Reaction of the accused person that I had noticed might have been for the unexpected turn of event. He was repeatedly going near the dead body of his daughter but not that of his wife.

8. Apart from PW1, his wife Purnima Devi examined herself as PW-2. According to her, at about 10.10 A.M. when she had been going to her office, the daughter of the accused, Munni, had been crying. On being asked the reason therefor, Mala had replied that Munni had been crying because she had been giving her a bath.

9. PW3 Binu Bezborauah was also a neighbour of the appellant. She was also a witness to the unusual crying of the girl.

10. PW4, Sri Manash Borpujari is an employee of the Education Department. He is the brother-in-law of the appellant.

11. According to him, when the appellant having been asked at around 3.30/4.00 PM as to what had happened, he replied "she killed Munni, she killed herself too". Reaction of PW4 upon seeing the dead body, however, was that she had been murdered. He accepted that the marriage between the deceased Mala and the appellant took place 16-17 years prior to his date of deposition and, apparently they had good relations. According to him, he had not witnessed any quarrel between them.

12. PW5, Dr. R.Chaliha conducted the post mortem examination.

13. PW6, is Rubul Sharma. He allegedly had seen a skipping rope around the neck of Mala as also a gold chain. He also allegedly noticed blood dipping out from the corners of her lips. He also found black marks around the neck of Munni. 14. The Investigating Officer also found a bottle of poison.

15. According to PW6, sheets of th