I.A. Ansari, J.

1. By judgment and order, dated 20-12-2005, passed, in Sessions Case No. 2/2000, learned Addl. Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Yupia, has convicted the accused, Deepak Panyang, under Sections 302 and 379, IPC and sentenced him, for his conviction, under Section 302, IPC, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to suffer, for his conviction, under Section 379, IPC, rigorous imprisonment for two years with fine of Rs. 1,000/- and, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a further period of two months, both the sentences having been directed to run concurrently.

2. A reference has accordingly been registered by the High Court in terms of the provisions of Section 30(1) of the Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulations, 1945. Aggrieved by his conviction and the sentences passed against him, the accused too has preferred an appeal, which has given rise to Criminal Appeal No. 2 (AP)/2006. As both - the reference as well as the appeal - have arisen out of the judgment and order, dated 20-12-2009, aforementioned, we propose to dispose of the reference as well as the appeal by this common judgment and order.

3. The prosecution case may, in brief, be described thus : (i) Smt. K. P. Jamoh (since deceased) hailed from Pasighat, but, being a teacher, at Higher Secondary School, Itanagar, she used to live with her daughter, Epi Jamoh (P.W. 1), at her allotted residential quarter in Sector-P, Itanagar. On 2-12-2002, Smt. K. P. Jamoh (since deceased) brought her daughter, Epi Jamoh (P.W. 1), to the house, at G. Sector, where the aunt of Epi (P.W. 1) used to live, and left P.W. 1 there, because Smt. K. P. Jamoh (since deceased) was to leave, on the following day (i.e. on 3-12-2002), for Pasighat and she, therefore, asked her daughter, Epi (P.W. 1), to remain at her aunt's house until she (Smt. K. P. Jamoh) returned to Itanagar from Pasighat. Smt. K. P. Jamoh (since deceased) had also told her daughter, Epi (P.W. 1), that she would telephone her (P.W. 1) from Pasighat. P.W. 3 is the aunt of P.W. 1 and P.W. 4 is son of P.W. 3. However, as no telephone call was received, P.W. 1 started making enquiry, on 4-12-2002, from her mother's friends. P.W. 1 called her relatives at Along and Pasighat, but was told that her mother had not reached there. P.W. 1, accompanied by P.W. 4, (at whose house P.W. 1 was staying), visited the residential quarter of her mother at Itanagar and found the house open, but the bedroom of her mother stood locked from outside. However, the TV, in the sitting room, was on. Seeing the TV switched on, P.W. 1 and P.W. 4 thought that Smt. K. P. Jamoh had gone to Pashighat after locking her bedroom from outside and that the accused, who used to stay at Smt. K. P. Jamoh's house, had gone somewhere nearby. On the following day, i.e. on 5-12-2002, P.W. 1 and P.W. 4, once again, (accompanied by P.W. 4's sister) came to Smt. K. P. Jamoh's house and found the house in the same condition in which they had found the house on the previous day. On making enquiry in the neighbourhood, P.W. 1 was told by one of her aunts, namely, Noshi, who used to reside opposite the quarter of Smt. K. P. Jamoh (since deceased), that she had seen Deepak Panyang, i.e. the present accused-appellant taking away Smt. K. P. Jamoh's Maruti Zen, bearing registration No. AR-08-4556, in the early morning from the said quarter. The accused, who was not related to the said deceased, had started staying, temporarily, at the residential quarter of the deceased, for about two months prior to the incident and on the day P.W. 1 had left her mother's house on 2-12-2002, the accused was very much present at the said quarter.

(ii) Having failed to trace out the whereabouts of her mother, P.W. 1, accompanied by her friend (P.W. 4), who is now her husband, came, on 6-12-2002, to the house of one David Wasi (P.W. 2), a friend of the accused, and told him that her mother's whereabouts were not known and the acc