Indira Shah, J.

1. The appellant, charged for the offences under Sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, has been found guilty by the Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) No. 1, Kamrup, under the aforesaid penal provisions of law and has been sentenced to undergo, for the conviction under Section 302 IPC, imprisonment for life with fine of Rs. 50,000/- and, in default, further rigorous imprisonment for 6 (six) months and to suffer, for his conviction under Section 201 IPC, rigorous imprisonment for a term of 5 (five) years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/- and, in default, further rigorous imprisonment for 6 (six) months. The judgement, dated 30.12.2006, passed by the learned trial Court, convicting and sentencing the accused-appellant, has been impugned in this appeal. Padmaja Devi, since deceased, used to work as a clerk in Assam Co-operative Apex Bank, North Lakhimpur Branch, and she used to reside in the rented house of Tankeswar Bora (PW 7). The accused-appellant, Sri Purna Sarma, a distant relative of the deceased, was employed as Deputy Accounts Officer in the Office of Public Health Engineering Department, Bokakhat.

2. The prosecution's case, in brief, is as under :

(i) Padmaja Devi was killed by the accused by strangulating her, on 24.4.1996, at the Nepali Mandir guest house, at Guwahati. The dead body was, then, put inside a large trunk and, with the help of a rickshaw-puller and one of the boarders of the guest house, was carried, on a rickshaw, to Assam State Transport Station. The trunk, with the dead body concealed inside, was put in a Guwahati-North Lakhimpur bound bus. The bus reached, at 6-30 A.M., at North Lakhimpur, on 25.04.1996. The conductors (PW 12 and PW 13) of the said bus discovered that a trunk had been left in the dickey and there was none to claim the said trunk. They also noticed that one side of the trunk had got broken and a leg of a girl was visible. They reported the matter to their Assistant Superintendent, who, in turn, informed the police over telephone. The police, on receipt of the information, so lodged, over telephone, entered the information in the General Diary, being GD Entry No. 1023, dated 25.04.1996, and arrived at the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) bus station. The bus was taken to the police station. The trunk was taken out and opened. The dead body of a woman, whose hands were tied behind her back with a rope, was recovered from the said trunk. A rope was also tied around the neck of the said dead body. Police held inquest on the dead body. The postmortem examination, conducted on the dead body, revealed death by strangulation.

(ii) Sarab Ali, Sub-Inspector of Assam Police, lodged formally First Information Report (FIR) and North Lakhimpur P.S. Case No. 218/1996, under Sections 302/ 201 IPC, was accordingly registered. The Investigation Officer, then, visited the residence of deceased Padmaja Devi, at Khelmati, North Lakhimpur. One letter, addressed to the deceased, and some photographs, recovered from the house, were seized. Since the dead body was recovered from Guwahati-Lakhimpur bound bus, the Officer-in-Charge of Paltanbazar P.S. was also informed.

(iii) During investigation, it was revealed that the accused-appellant had enticed the deceased by saying that he had arranged a better job for her, in the Defence, and took her to Guwahati to appear in an interview. The deceased had two LIC policies, one was from Golaghat Branch and the other from Tezpur Branch and, in both the policies, mother of the accused had been made the nominee. It was also revealed that after the death of Padmaja, brother of the accused-appellant had visited Jorhat Branch to claim the amount under the said LIC policy. The accused-appellant was arrested from Bokakhat and he led the police to the room, where he had committed the murder. One diary, belonging to the deceased, was also recovered at the instance of the accused-appellant and the entries, in the said diary, revealed that the accus