The present appellant who is convicted by learned IIIrd Adhoc Additional Sessions Judge, Aurangabad on 9th January, 2004 in Sessions Case no. 74 of 2003 for the offence punishable under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/-, has preferred the present Appeal.

2. The allegations in nutshell are as under:-

That deceased Kailash S/o Manikrao Nandgauli has committed suicide on 21.7.2002 at the workshop where he was working in Aurangabad city. Earlier, the deceased was residing at Bhusawal. The present appellant Gokul Karda and the deceased were fast friends at Bhusawal. They were even partners in one welding works. Certain money transactions between them were there. The deceased, however, was unable to succeed in the business at Bhusawal. In the circumstances, he sold ground floor of his house at Bhusawal to P.W. 5 Sureshkumar for consideration of Rs. 77,000/-. The first floor of his house was sold by him to P.W. 6 Ashok Ahuja for consideration of Rs. 46,000/-. Out of these sale proceeds, he gave handloan of Rs. 65,000/- to the present appellant. The appellant is ex-president of Municipal Council, Bhusawal. The appellant agreed to pay interest at the bank rate. The deceased took rest of the consideration amount with him and left Bhusawal and started his business at Solapur. However, he could not succeed there. In the circumstances, he came at Aurangabad as his sister Durga w/o Prakash Ambekar was residing there. At Aurangabad the deceased started working in the shop of P.W.2 Prakash Ambekar i.e. the husband of his sister. He used to carry the fabrication work in the shop.

On 21st July, 2002, without intimating anybody, the deceased went to Bhusawal. His son P.W.8 Prasad, therefore, made enquiry about the deceased with his paternal uncle P.W.4- Waman on phone. He came to know that the deceased had been to Bhusawal and resided with P.W.4 Waman. The deceased had gone to Bhusawal to recover the hand-loan given to the present appellant. However, the appellant avoided to repay the amount. In the circumstances, the deceased returned to Aurangabad on 24th July, 2002, after taking meals in the house of P.W.4 Waman Nandgauli at Bhusawal. However, in the night between 24th July, 2002 and 25th July, 2002, the deceased committed suicide in the fabrication workshop of his brother-in-law by latching the same from inside. On 25th July, 2002 in the morning, the dead body of the deceased was found hanging.

In the circumstances, the brother-in-law i.e. P.W.2 Prakash reported the incident to Jinsi Police Station. After registering accidental death (A.D.) case, the investigation was started. The inquest panchanama was recorded, postmortem examination of the dead body was conducted, which showed that the deceased died due to asphyxia due to hanging. After the post-mortem examination of the dead body, the dead body was handed over to the son i.e. P.W.8 Prasad. At the time of recording of panchanama of spot of occurrence at Exhibit 14, inter-alia, a written note was found in the shirt pocket of the deceased. It was a suicide note (Exhibit 36).

The suicide note recited that the deceased had given the hand-loan to the present appellant for few days as there were earlier money transactions between them. However, for one and half year, the appellant did not repay the amount. In the whole of the life of the deceased, he had witnessed many upheavals but was not able to bring stability in his life. In the circumstances, the marriage of his daughter was settled and after the Diwali, the marriage ceremony was to be celebrated. In the circumstances, the deceased many a time met the appellant and made the demand of money. However, the appellant avoided to pay the same and ultimately, refused to pay the amount. Though the deceased requested him for repayment of the amount, he refused to pay the same and even threatened the deceased and prevented him even from