JUDGMENT :

[Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.]

1. This criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of CrPC has been preferred by the appellant herein assailing the impugned judgment dated 05/01/2012 (Annexure A/1) passed by the Sessios Judge Koriya (Baikunthpur) Distt. Koriya in Sessions Trial No. 62/2007 whereby he has been convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life with fine of Rs. 1000/- and in default of payment of fine additional R.I. for three months.

2. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 08/04/2022 at about 05:30 PM, the appellant herein, with the intention of causing death of his wife Smt. Prabha Pandey, poured kerosene oil over her and set her on fire due to which she received 90% burn injuries and ultimately, succumbed to death on 15/04/2022.

3. Further case of the prosecution is that marriage of deceased Smt. Prabha Pandey was solemnized with the appellant Gudda @ Ravishankar Pandey on 29/04/2004 at Ramgarh. After marriage, the deceased used to have chest pain and for treatment she used to visit her parental home frequently. On 08/04/2005, the deceased had suffered 90% burn injuries and she was escorted to Baikunthpur Hospital. After being informed by the Hospital, Rampratap Sahu (Ex. P/43), working as A.S.I. at Police Station Baikunthpur, wrote a letter (Ex. P/39) to the Assistant Surgeon, Community Health Center, Baikunthpur for conducting medical examination of the deceased and also wrote a letter to the Executive Magistrate for recording dying declaration of the deceased. MLC was conducted by Dr. Rameshwar Sharma (P.W.-48) vide Ex. P/51 wherein he found that the deceased was in a serious condition and she had suffered 90% burns and thereafter, he wrote a letter to the T.I. vide Ex. P/50 informing him about the condition of the deceased and for recording her dying declaration pursuant to which her dying declaration was recorded on 08/04/2005 at 08:10 PM vide Ex. D/2 in the presence of Naib Tahsildar, Baikunthpur namely S.R. Sidar (D.W.-1) wherein the deceased had informed that some unknown person poured kerosene oil on her body and set her on fire. Thereafter, on being referred from Baikunthpur Hospital, the deceased was admitted to Holy Cross Hospital, Ambikapur on 09/04/2005 at about 5 PM wherein she was examined by Dr. Rachna (P.W.-52). Thereafter, again on 10/04/2005 at 07:30 PM, dying declaration of the deceased was recorded by Tahsildar, Ambikapur namely Rajesh Sahi (D.W.-2) after being certified by the Doctor that deceased was in proper condition to give her statement. The deceased again stated that some unknown person poured kerosene oil over her and set her on fire. Thereafter, on 15/04/2022, the deceased ultimately succumbed to death having suffered severe burn injuries. After being informed by the Hospital, Merg No. 0/05 was registered vide Ex. P/30 by Police Station Gandhinagar and thereafter, merg No. 19/05 was recorded by Police Station Patna vide Ex. P/38 and first information report was recorded for offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC vide Ex. P/53 and the wheels of investigation started running. Spot map was prepared vide Ex. P/31 and summons were issued to the witnesses vide Ex. P/32. In the presence of the witnesses, inquest was conducted vide Ex. P/33 and the dead body of deceased was subjected to postmortem, which was conducted by Dr. Faizal H. Firdausi (P.W.-50) and he has opined in the postmortem report (Ex. P/52) that cause of death is due to the effect of septic absorption from the infected ulcers from burn injuries. Statements of prime witnesses namely Smt. Phulkunver (P.W.-23), Phulbai (P.W.-24), Devpratap Singh (P.W.-25), Keshlal Singh (P.W.-26), Vijay Kumar Jaiswal (P.W.-27), Smt. Fulmatiya (P.W.-30), Smt. Poonam Mishra (P.W.-38) and Swatantra Kumar Mishra (P.W.-39) were recorded from 08/01/2007 to 12/05/2007 after conclusion of merg inquiry before whom the deceased had allegedly given oral dying declaration stating that i