JUDGMENT :

[Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.]

1. This criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of CrPC has been preferred by the appellant against impugned judgment dated 16/08/2013 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Raipur in Sessions Trial No. 141/2012 whereby he has been convicted for offence punishable under Sections 302 (two times) and 450 of IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs. 5000/- (twice) and in default of payment of fine, further R.I. for 2 months; and R.I. for 5 years with fine of Rs. 2000/- and in default of payment of fine, further R.I. for 2 months, respectively.

2. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 17/02/2012, the appellant herein murdered Smt. Seema Rajput, wife of Krishna Singh (P.W.-2) at her house and also caused the death of her minor son Shivam alias Chintu and thereby, committed the aforesaid offences.

3. It is admitted position on record that Sahdev Singh (P.W.-1), father of deceased Smt. Seema Rajput as well as her husband Krishna Singh (P.W.-2), both worked as Labour and Driver at S.K.S. Company, Siltara and stayed at a house that the company provided to its employees in labour colony wherein deceased Smt. Seema Rajput and Shivam also stayed with them. It is also admitted position on record that deceased Smt. Seema Rajput used to run a kirana shop from her house.

4. Further case of the prosecution is that on 17/02/2012 at about 8 AM, Sahdev Singh (P.W.-1) and Krishna Singh (P.W.- 2), both had gone to work and meanwhile, deceased Smt. Seema Rajput was at home along with her son Shivam. At about 08:30 PM, Sahdev Singh (P.W.-1) returned to his home from work and found that the house was locked from outside. He looked nearby and when he could not find his daughter Smt. Seema Rajput, he thought she must have gone nearby to do some work and so he waited outside. Thereafter, at 9 PM, his son-in-law Krishna Singh (P.W.-2) also returned from work. As they were waiting outside, after some time, they heard the whining sounds of Shivam coming from inside the house. When they looked inside from the window, they saw that Smt. Seema Rajput was lying on the floor soaked in blood and Shivam was lying on bed. With the help of neighbours, they broke the lock and went inside and saw that there was blood all over on the floor and Smt. Seema Rajput had suffered severe injuries on her head, eyes and face and she had already died, however, Shivam was alive but he had suffered injury on the back of his head. When they escorted Shivam to the hospital, he succumbed to death.

5. Upon receiving the information about the incident, Police reached the spot and registered dehati nalishi (Ex. P/1) and registered merg intimations with regard to Shivam vide Ex. P/2 and with regard to Smt. Seema Rajput vide Ex. P/3. Inquest was conducted vide Ex. P/4 and P/5 and their dead bodies were subjected to postmortem. Dr. S.K. Bagh (P.W.-5) conducted postmortem of deceased Seema Singh and he opined in the postmortem report (Ex. P/12) that cause of death was hemorrhage and shock as a result of multiple injuries on the head and nature of death was homicidal. Postmortem of deceased Shivam was conducted by Dr. Rajkumar Patel (P.W.-11) and as per the postmortem report (Ex. P/29), cause of death is also said to be hemorrhage and shock as a result of head injury and the death is said to be homicidal in nature. During investigation, a broken lock was seized from the spot vide Ex. P/11, a pair of blood stained slippers and a red coloured cotton gamchha were seized from the spot vide Ex. P/12, blood stained bangles of the deceased, wooden rolling pin, blood stained white shirt and two weights of 1 kg each were seized from the spot vide Ex. P/13. After taking the appellant into custody, his memorandum statement was recorded vide Ex. P/6 and a key was seized from his possession vide Ex. P/7. From the said key, the lock placed on the house of the deceased was opened in front of witness Gaurishankar (P.W.-3) and panchnama was prepared vide