ORDER :

Ramesh Sinha, J.

1. The appellant has preferred this appeal under Section 374(2) of Cr.P.C. questioning the impugned judgment dated 10.12.2021 passed in Sessions Trial No.22/2020, by which the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kondagaon, District Kondagaon has convicted the appellant under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, the IPC) and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for six months for murder of his brother namely Balsingh.

2. Case of the prosecution, in short, is that on 20.06.2020 the appellant committed murder of his younger brother namely Balsingh (hereinafter referred to as ‘the deceased’) inside his own house with an axe.

3. Merg intimation (Exhibit P/14) bearing No. 36/2020 was recorded by Vinod Kumar Sahu, Police Inspector (PW-10) on the information given by mother of the deceased and the appellant, namely Fundi Bai Netam (PW-1) on 20.06.2020 at about 19:30 hours and thereafter, FIR was lodged on the same day at about 19:45 hours at Police Station, Farasgaon, District Kondagaon.

4. In the FIR (Exhibit P-1), Fundi Bai (PW-1) stated that he has two sons namely Lachhuram (appellant) and Balsingh (deceased). Balsingh was elder son who was married and her younger son was unmarried. On the date of incident i.e. 20.06.2020, the appellant was roaming on his motorcycle after having his lunch and returned back at about 3 p.m. and lied on mat on the floor. The informant had gone upto the tap for fetching water. At about 4 p.m, when she returned back, she saw that his elder son i.e. the appellant who was in a state of daze and was sweating was going outside the house carrying an axe in which there was blood alongwith his face and clothes. When she asked him as to what had happened, he stated nothing. When she went inside the house, she found his younger son lying in an injured condition with deep injuries on his face and head. The deceased was barely able to breathe. She immediately came out of the house and informed Pratima Netam (PW-2) i.e. her daughter-in-law that the appellant had killed his younger son upon which Pratima Netam also went inside and saw the entire scene and informed her uncle (Chacha) Ramaram. Thereafter, Ramaram informed about the incident to some of the villagers who called the 108 Ambulance and on examining by the Doctor, the Balsingh was declared dead. She further stated in the FIR that on the previous day i.e. 19.06.2020, there was an argument and quarrel between the appellant and the deceased with regard to being idle and doing no work in the fields. On the said issue, the appellant had murdered his younger brother by giving deadly blow with the axe on his face multiple times.

5. After investigating the matter, the police submitted the police report alongwith charge-sheet against the Accused under section 302 IPC before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Kondagaon, who in turn committed the case to the Sessions Court for trial and the case was registered as Sessions Trial No. 22/2020.

6. The learned Sessions Judge framed charge on 04.12.2020 charging the appellant/accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC.

7. Amongst others, the prosecution has filed the following documents in support of its case:

• FIR (Exhibit P/1)

• Statement of Budhram Korram (Exhibit P/2)

• Summons under Section 175 Cr.P.C. (Exhibit P/3)

• Inquest Report (Exhibit P/4)

• Property Seizure Memo (Exhibit P/5)

• Memorandum (Exhibit P/6)

• Property Seizure Memo (Exhibit P/7)

• Arrest memo (Exhibit P/8)

• Application for postmortem (Exhibit P/9)

• Postmortem report (Exhibit P/10)

• Memo for query of the seized axe (Exhibit P/11)

• Query report (Exhibit P/12)

• Property seizure memo (Exhibit P/13)

• Merg intimation (Exhibit P/14)

• Crime details form (Exhibit P/15)

• Memo regarding providing of spot map (Exhibit P/16)

• Memo for FSL report (Exhibit P/17)

• Receipt of exhibits (Exhibit P/18)

• FSL report (Exhibi