( 1 ) THE appellant being convicted and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 3000/- in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year for the offence under section 302 of the IPC for murdering his wife Sahida Bibi and also sentenced to suffer R. I. for three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- in default to suffer R. I. for six months under section 201 of the IPC for causing disappearance of evidence of the said offence of murder has preferred the instant appeal assailing the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Additional Sessions judge, Midnapore in Sessions Trial No. XXXI/ June/2001.

( 2 ) THE prosecution story as disclosed in the First Information Report (in short FIR), in short, is that the deceased Sahida, the sister of informant mahamud Khan (P. W. 1) was given in marriage with the appellant about 10 years back from the date of lodging FIR. In spite of receiving dowry in the marriage the appellant used to inflict physical and mental torture on the deceased Sahida. On 16. 3. 99 at morning P. W. 1 learnt that his sister Sahida was hanging from a 'babla' tree with noose around her neck by the