JUDGMENT :

Brijesh Sethi, J.

1. The appellant has instituted the present appeal under section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Cr.P.C’) against the impugned judgment dated 23.08.2001 and order on sentence dated 24.08.2001, in Session Case No. 22/2001, arising out of FIR No.485/1996, registered at Police Station–Nangloi; whereby the Trial Court has convicted the accused Lekhraj (hereinafter referred to as the ‘appellant’) of a charge framed against him under section 302 Indian Penal Code, 1860.

2. Before going into the merits of the present appeal, it is relevant to recapitulate the brief facts of the present case which are as follows:

‘On 09.07.1996, at about 5.30 p.m., one Dhara Singh came to the police post Nihal Vihar, PS Nangloi and informed that one Lekh Raj had murdered his wife Smt Mamta. On receipt of this information, SI Zile Singh, in-charge Police Post Nihal Vihar, reached the spot of crime i.e. house no. B-2777, Nihal Vihar, Delhi along with HC Bhagwati, Ct. Dharminder and Surinder where they found the dead body of deceased Mamta lying in a pool of blood. There were injuries on her forehead till her nose towards the right side and also on her left hand palm. The injuries had been caused by some sharp edged weapon and blood was oozing out from the injuries. In the meantime, Insp. Sh. P.S.Patwal, SHO PS Nangloi reached at the spot where Sh. Sri Pal, father of deceased Mamta was found present and his statement was recorded by SI Zile Singh.

In his statement, Sh. Sri Pal, father of deceased Mamta told that he was working as meson and has two daughters and two sons. His eldest daughter namely Mamta( now deceased) was married to Lek Raj @ Titu R/o Bapa Nagar, Karol Bagh, Delhi on 10.05.1992 and from the said wedlock, one son namely Ashish, now aged 3 years, was born. On 10.06.1996, he had given Rs. 10,000/- to his son-in-law for construction of his house at Bapa Nagar and he himself worked there for about two and half months. Even then, his son-in-law remained short of funds and demanded Rs. 25,000/- from him on 06.07.1996 but he refused to give. On this, his son-in-law told him that he would not take his daughter with him and he should remove his articles. Thereafter, he took his son Ashish and went to his house at Bapa Nagar, Karol Bagh, Delhi. While leaving from the house, Lek Raj, son-in-law of Sh. Sri Pal, threatened that he should remove his articles from his house otherwise he would kill his daughter.

Sh. Sri Pal further told that on 09.07.1996, deceased Mamta and her brother Suresh aged about 5-6 years were present at their house. At about 5.00 p.m., when he returned to his house from work, he found his son Suresh weeping while standing near the door and he saw his daughter Mamta lying in a pool of blood inside the room. While he was watching, his son-in-law Lekh Raj @ Titu set Mamta on fire with a match stick. Seeing him, his son-in-law whose clothes were soaked with blood and who was having a knife in his hand fled away from there. He chased him for some distance but he succeeded in fleeing away from the spot. He immediately returned back and with the assistance of the people of the locality, extinguished the fire from the body of deceased Mamta. However by then, his daughter Mamta had expired. Sh. Sri Pal further told the police that due to the non fulfillment of the demand of Rs. 25,000/-of Lekh Raj @ Titu, he has burnt and killed his wife.

FIR was registered on the basis of the above statement of Sri Pal. Inspector P.S. Patwal prepared site plan and conducted the inquest proceedings. Postmortem on the dead body of deceased Mamta was got conducted. SI Zile Singh called the photographer and got the scene of crime photographed. Appellant Lekh Raj was arrested on the same day and on his disclosure statement and on his pointing out, his blood stained shirt was recovered which was lying in a park behind the bushes. Insp. Patwal also seized baniyan, pant and shoes of appellant havin