The judgment underscores the requirement for a complete chain of incriminating circumstances and the need for corroborative evidence in establishing guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

K.K. Sonawane, J.

1. Being aggrieved with the impugned judgment and order of conviction, under section 302, 201 of Indian Penal Code (For short, “IPC”) and resultant sentence to suffer Imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.30,000/-, in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for one year, as well as R.I. for 7 years and to pay fine of Rs.10,000/-,in default, S.I. for 4 months; on both counts, imposed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kopargaon, District Ahmednagar, in Sessions Case No. 26 of 2008, the appellant-original accused preferred the present appeal by invoking the remedy under Section 374 of Cr.P.C. to redress his grievances.

2. Facts, which led to the prosecution of the appellant/accused are as under:-

(I) That, the ill-fated victim Pushpa, daughter of Divakar Pande, 59 years old was the spinster, residing alone in the own constructed bungalow in Indira Nagar locality, within the precincts of village Sakori, Taluka Rahata, Dist. Ahmednagar. She was employed as a staff nurse in the Primary Health Center at Savli Vihir, Taluka Rahata. Prior to six months of the incident, she retired from the service and started residing in her own bungalow in Indira Nagar, Sakori. According to prosecution, the boy namely Manish was staying with the deceased Pushpa since his childhood. He was the son of Usha, sister of deceased Pushpa. The expenses for education of nephew Manish was also incurred by the deceased Pushpa. After completion of Diploma Course the nephew Manish shifted his residence at Pune for employment purpose. It has been alleged that in the month of May 2008, the female members i.e. Usha mother of Manish and his aunt Chhaya accompanied with accused Ashish, all residents of Baitul, Madhya Pradesh came to the house of deceased Pushpa as her guests. The boy Manish had personally gone to Manmad Railway station to receive the mother as well as aunt and accused Ashish and took them to the house of the deceased Pushpa, at Indira Nagar Sakori. The guest stayed at the house of deceased Pushpa for about 5-6 days and lateron, they returned to their home at Baitul, Madhya Pradesh. However, the accused Ashish was intending to join computer courses. Therefore, he did not return to his residence at Baitul, but remained with deceased Pushpa for attending the computer courses. The deceased Pushpa allowed the accused Ashish to stay with her in bungalow, unaware of her tragic end within 10/15 days by the hands of accused Ashish.

(ii) It has been alleged that on 20.6.2008, at about 8.00 p.m. denizens of Indira Nagar locality, namely Nandkumar Shirale, Subhash Nalawade, Sanjay Deokar, visited to the police station Rahata and passed on the information that some sort of foul smell was emanating from the locked house of deceased Pushpa Pande, resident of their locality. The police personnel – PSI Shri Bhalerao took the entry of information in the station diary and rushed to the spot of incident to take stock of situation. The doors of the bungalow of deceased Pushpa were found locked from the outside. The police personnel, in presence of denizens of the locality broke open the lock and barged into the bungalow. During the search, they were aghast on seeing the highly decomposed dead body in the card-board box in the adjoining room. There were marks of violence on the neck and face of the dead body. The PSI Shri Bhalerao drawn panchanama of breaking open the lock of the house of nurse Pande, in presence of residents of the locality. During search, the police personnel came across with one cell-phone number of Manish Diwakarrao Pande, found written on the chit being personal data. The police immediately contacted with Manish on his cell phone and it was revealed that he was nephew of deceased Pushpa Pande and she was residing with accused Ashish in the said bungalow. Thereafter PSI Shri Bhalerao lodged the report, on behalf of State, in the police station, Rahata for the alleged incident of murder of victim Pushpa by the unknown