1. Heard rival submissions on both the appeals which are being disposed of by this common judgment and order as both the appeals are arising out of the judgment and order of conviction of appellant/orig. accused No.1 in Criminal Appeal No.750 of 2005. Original accused No.1 (i.e. appellant in Criminal Appeal No.750/2005) was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC and was also convicted for the offence punishable under Section 307 of IPC. On each count, he was sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and fine of Rs.500/in default SI for one month. Said judgment and order was passed by the 6th Additional Sessions Judge, Pune vide order dated 5th March, 2004 in Sessions Case No.157 of 2003.

2. By the said judgment and order, original accused No.2 one Satyabhama Jadhawar was acquitted of both the charges i.e. offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC and also punishable under Section 307 of IPC. Against the acquittal of said accused No.2, there is no appeal preferred by the State. The State has preferred Criminal Appeal No.1318 of 2004 for enhancement of punishment given to accused No.1 and as such challenged the impugned judgment and order dated 5th March, 2004.

3. Original accused No.1 Aadhinath Garje filed Criminal Appeal No.750 of 2005 challenging the judgment and order of conviction. In view of all this factual position, both the appeals are taken up for hearing and disposed off by this common judgment and order.

4. The case of the prosecution, in nutshell, is as under:

Accused No.1 Aadinath married with victim Mangal and out of the said wedlock the couple had one daughter by name Sharada (PW1) and one son by name Dnyaneshwar. At the time of the incident i.e. on or about 21st March, 2003 said Sharada was about 11 years of age, whereas Dnyaneshwar was 8 years of age. In the incident which happened at early hours of 21st January, 2003, victim Mangal and also son Dnyaneshwar were drowned in the river Indrayani near village Dehu, District – Pune. In fact during that incident daughter Sharada (PW1) was also drowned in the river. This act was done allegedly by both the accused i.e. Aadinath Garje & Satyabhama Jadhwar.

5. After the marriage and having two children, as mentioned above, accused No.1 was staying along with his family at Prabhu Vadgaon village, Taluka Shevgaon, District – Ahmednagar. However, later on he got job as a Supervisor on the agricultural field belonging to one Vitthal Maharaj at village Bodhegaon,Taluka Shevgaon, District – Ahmednagar, and as such after getting such job, he used to visit place of his wife Mangal and his two children at village Prabhu Vadgaon.

6. It is also the case of prosecution that at the place of his work at Bodhegaon, accused Aadinath had developed relations with accused No.2 Satyabhama and they were staying as husband and wife and it was known to his wife Mangal and said Mangal had disclosed it to her elder daughter PW1 Sharada.

7. According to the case of prosecution, on 19th January, accused No.1 came to Prabhu Vadgaon and told Mangal and his children that all of them would be going to pilgrimage at Dehu. He took his family members and brought them to Shevgaon and thereafter asked them to proceed further in a bus upto Pathardi and further told that he himself would come along with Satyabhama at Pathardi bus-stand. Accordingly they all met and started going towards Pune and reached Dehu on 20th January, 2003 in the morning. On that entire day, they had deity darshan and also took meals and rested overnight under the tree within the precincts of the temple. On the next day i.e. on the fateful day of 21st January, 2003 early morning they all got up. On the pretext of taking holy bath in the river, accused No.1 took his wife Mangal and his two children to the river bed. Satyabhama also accompanied them. At that place, accused and Satyabhama gave push and in fact drowned Mangal and Dnyaneshwar in deep water. They also threw PW1 Sharada in water. Apparently Sha