JUDGEMENT - VISHNU SAHAI, J. :---The appellant aggrieved by the Judgment and order dated 28th September, 1995, passed by the III Additional Sessions Judge, Thane in Sessions Case No. 95 of 1994 convicting and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- under section 302 I.P.C. has come up in appeal before us.

2. The prosecution case in brief runs as under:---

The deceased Ram Dagdu Jadhav was the husband of P.W. 1 Nirmala Ram Jadhav and the brother of P.W. 4 Manohar Dagdu Jadhav. On 21-8-1993 at about 7-45 p.m. while the deceased and his brother Manohar were returning after a stroll and had reached near Saibaba Mandir, the brother of the deceased inadvertently pushed the appellant. Thereupon the appellant started abusing them. The deceased asked the appellant not to abuse them. Thereupon the appellant took out a knife and inflicted two blows with the same on the deceased. In the meantime P.W. 1 Nirmala Ram Jadhav, the wife of the deceased, whose house was situated in immediate proximity of the place of incident, Edward Lone (P.W. 5), Vishal Jadhav (P.W. 7) and Tuljaram Jadhav (P.W. 10) are also said to have reached the place of incident and seen the incident. After assaulting the deceased, the appellant is said to have run away from the place of the incident.

3. Thereafter Nirmala Jadhav, Manohar Jadhav and the deceased, who was still alive, went to Police Station, Ambernath. As the injuries of the deceased were profusely bleeding the police advised them to remove the deceased to the hospital. They took him to Chaudhary Hospital. There P.W. 3 Dr. Virendranath Srivastav, at about 9-45 p.m. medically examined the deceased. He found the following two injuries on his person:---

(1) Clean out wound about 4" x 1" x 1" left cheek oblique going downwards. Bleeding present.

(2) Oblique clean cut wound about 4" x ½" bone deep 2" below and parallel to right clavicle on the chest wall. Bleeding present.

According to Dr. Srivastav both these injuries were caused by sharp weapon.

At the hospital Dr. Srivastav stitched the injuries of the deceased and administered I.V. fluid to him.

In Chaudhary Hospital, the same day the deceased is said to have succumbed to his injuries at 10-50 p.m.

4. After the death of the deceased the informant Nirmala Jadhav made her complaint (i.e. the F.I.R.). The complaint was registered by Senior Police Inspector Prakash Ramji Ade P.W. 11 on 21-8-1993 at 11-40 hours.

The investigation in the instant case was conducted by Senior P.I. Prakash Ramji Ade. After registering the F.I.R. he proceeded to Chaudhary Hospital (Anand Hospital). By that time the deceased had expired. He conducted the inquest panchanama over the dead body. After completing the panchanama at 1.00 a.m. on 22-8-1993, the appellant was produced before him by Head Constable Kadam. He effected the arrest panchanama and took the appellant into custody. Then he recorded the statement of some witnesses. He went for the place of the incident and from there took plain soil and pieces of tiles stained with blood, in his possession.

On 24-8-1993 the appellant made a statement that he could produce the knife. He drew up a panchanama. Thereafter he, the appellant, P.W. 6 Dattu Shivram Jadhav, (the public punch) and some police personnel left in a jeep. The appellant took them to the house of one Sunita Chavan in Kantavli Chowk. Thereafter from inside that house, from beneath a roof of tin sheet, he took out the knife. There were blood stains on the knife. The knife was seized under a panchanama. The knife, clothes of the appellant and some articles were sent to the Chemical Analyser. Finally after completing the investigation on 17-11-1993 he submitted the charge-sheet.

5. Going backwards, the postmortem examination of the dead body of the deceased was conducted on 22-8-1993 between 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. by P.W. 9 Dr. Bahubali Nagaonkar. The doctor found two stitched wounds, one each on the left cheek and right side of chest and one ab

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