V.M. Deshpande, J.

1. The appellant, who was found guilty of committing uxoricide by the Additional Sessions Judge, Amalner by judgment and order, dated 16.3.2011, in Sessions Case No. 48 of 2010 and was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for six months, has approached this court, thereby challenging the correctness of the said judgment.

2. The factual matrix, as unfolded during the course of the prosecution case, can conveniently be stated as under:-

Dipchand, the appellant and his wife Kalpanabai were having marital life for last 26 years. The couple is having two sons and one daughter. PW1 Rakesh is younger than PW3 Sachin and Pavitra is the daughter of the couple. The appellant is a retired army person. After retirement from the army, he was working as Watchman at Devas in Madhya Pradesh. It appears that amongst the eight brothers of the appellant, there took partition in respect of their ancestral properties and the agricultural field bearing Gat No. 45, situated at village Loni Sim, Taluka Parola, District Jalgaon came to his share in the said partition. It is an admitted position that the appellant is having his bank account with the State Bank of India, Parola Branch, Parola. It is also an undisputed position that the appellant was addicted to liquor.

3. The prosecution case further proceeds that, at the relevant time, the elder brother PW3 Sachin was taking education at Nashik. On 12.8.2010, the appellant and his wife Kalpanabai (deceased) proceeded towards their field in the morning at 9.00 a.m. on the motor cycle. Before proceeding, they asked PW1 Rakesh that he should bring the tifin at 12.00 noon in the field. It appears that, by passage of time, on that day Pavitra prepared tifin for lunch and PW1 Rakesh had been to the field as directed by his parents. To his surprise, he could not notice both of them in the agricultural field. The motor cycle was also not there. He found chappals of his mother and sickle near the well situated in the field. He made inquiries about them with the persons working in the surrounding fields, however, he could not get any information about his parents. PW1 Rakesh returned to his village and intimated the fact of missing of his parents to everybody. Upon that, villagers came to the agricultural field. They tried to find out his parents. Someone also put hook in the well, but that attempt was unsuccessful. Thereafter, he gave a phone call to his brother PW3 Sachin. He also lodged a report about missing of his parents with Parola police station on 12.8.2010. The said report is at Exh.11. The entry of the said report was taken in the station diary vide entry no. 52 at 23.30 hours and it was registered as missing complaint no.11 of 2010.

4. On the next day i.e. on 13.8.2010 in the morning PW1 Rakesh, PW3 Sachin and others drew the water from the well with the help of electric motor which was fitted on the well. To their unfortune, they saw dead body of Kalpanabai in one corner of the well. The said fact was immediately reported to the police and on the basis of the complaint of PW1 Rakesh on 13.8.2010 First Information Report was registered against the appellant. In the First Information Report, the informant Rakesh, son of the appellant and the deceased, specifically raised suspicion over his father, since according to him, his father Dipchand always used to raise suspicion over the character of his mother. An offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code vide Crime No. 225 of 2010 was registered against the appellant.

5. The investigation was handed over to PW10 A.P.I. Khillare. Even PW10 Khillare investigated A.D. report. In that investigation, he visited the spot of the incident. He found that the dead body of Kalpanabai was lying in the well. The dead body was fished out and inquest panchanama (Exh.14) was prepared. The spot panchanama (Exh.15) was also drawn. The dead body wa