JUDGMENT :

POONAM A. BAMBA, J.

1. Vide these appeals, the appellants, namely, Shailesh Kumar and Mahesh Kumar, both brothers have challenged the judgment dated 08.06.2017 passed by Ld. Addl. Sessions Judge-03(NE), Karkardooma Courts, Delhi, (“impugned judgment” in short), whereby the appellants were convicted in S.C. No. 44815/2015, in FIR no. 410/2015, PS Khajuri Khas, u/Ss. 302/201/34 IPC ; and order on sentence dated 07.07.2017, whereby both the appellants were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302 IPC with fine of Rs. 10,000/-, in default to undergo simple imprisonment.

2. Briefly stating, the prosecution case is that on 11.04.2015, a DD No.-29B Ex. PW-9/A was received through PCR by PS New Usmanpur Pur, which was assigned to PW-15 SI Sonal Raj. PW-15 alongwith PW-19 Ct. Patil reached Shamshan Ghat, Wazirabad where dead body of a male was lying for cremation; PCR had already reached there. Purohit PW-12 Pandit Shiv Hari Om Shukla, met there and told that the appellants/accused persons Mahesh and Shailesh, brothers of the deceased accompanied the dead body and disclosed the reason of death as illness. As there was a sign of strangulation on the neck of the dead body, cremation was not allowed ; on which, argument took place. PW-15 SI Sonal Raj informed PS Khajuri Khas through DD No. 12A/Ex. PW-18/D, as the matter pertained to their jurisdiction. At PS Khajuri Khas, PW-17 SI Arjun was assigned investigation, who along with PW-6 Ct. Ashish reached Shamshan Ghat, inspected the dead body and also informed the crime team ; on receipt of information, PW-11 SI E.S. Yadav along with photographer Ct. Anil Kumar/PW-2 and finger print proficient Ct. Mahavir reached shamshan ghat. Photographs of dead body Ex. PW-2/A-1, A-3, A-7, A-12 and A-13 were taken and thereafter they visited the spot i.e. House no. A-872, Gali no. 20, Shri Ram Colony, Rajiv Nagar, Khajuri, Delhi (in short “A-872”) and took photos of the house/room of the deceased i.e. Ex. PW-2/A-2, 6, 8, 10 and 11 and SOC report Ex. PW-11/A was furnished. Dead body was sent for post mortem ; in Post Mortem report, the cause of death was revealed as strangulation. Appellants/accused persons Mahesh and Shailesh were arrested for the murder of their brother Sunil on account of property dispute. During investigation, pursuant to disclosure of the appellants/accused persons, one telephone wire Ex.P-1, with which deceased was strangulated, was recovered at the pointing out of the appellant Mahesh Kumar’s instance.

The appellants/accused were charge-sheeted for the offences punishable u/Ss. 302/201/34 IPC for the murder of their brother Sunil and also for removing the evidence.

3. After completion of investigation, charge-sheet was filed.

4. In support of its case, prosecution examined 18 witnesses.

5. The appellant Shailesh Kumar vide his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C stated that he was innocent and had been falsely implicated in this case; at the time of incident, he was at his home about 30 meters away from the spot of death of his brother Sunil.

5.1 The appellant Mahesh Kumar in his statement under section 313 Cr.PC also stated that he is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case; at the time of incident, he was at his shop, which is about one kilometer away from the place of incident.

6. The appellants in their defence produced three witnesses, namely, DW-1 Sh. Jagdish Prasad, their father, DW-2 Sh. Sushil, an old colleague of the appellant Mahesh and DW-3, the appellants” Fufa Sh. Chander Sen.

7. The learned Trial Court after considering the evidence on record, convicted the appellants/accused persons finding that the chain of circumstances stood proved, which unerringly pointed towards the guilt of the appellants/accused persons.

8. Ld. Counsel for the appellants argued that the present case is based on circumstantial evidence and the chain of circumstances connecting the appellants with the crime is not complete. Ld. Counsel submitted that t