JUDGMENT :

Kuldeep Mathur, J.

1. The appellant herein has been convicted and sentenced as below vide judgment dated 19.07.2014 passed by the learned Special Additional Sessions Judge (Women Atrocity and Dowry Cases), Sri Ganganagar in Sessions Case No. 110/2013. He has filed the instant appeal under Section 374 (2) CrPC for assailing the impugned judgment:-

2. Brief facts relevant and essential for disposal of the appeal are noted hereinbelow.

Pooja (P.W. 9) lodged a written report (Ex. P./1) to the S.H.O. Police Station, Purani Abadi, Sri Ganganagar on 17.09.2013 about the murder of her mother Smt. Sita Devi. In the written report it was alleged that one Shri Raju Soni had been cohabiting with her mother for last one year. For last four months, they had been living in the present rented house i.e. the place of incident. It was further alleged that Raju Soni quarreled with her mother on the previous night. Next day, when she visited the house to meet her mother around 11:00 AM, she saw that Raju Soni was sitting on the stairs, who on seeing her, ran away. On going inside the house she found Sita Devi’s dead body lying on a cot. It was alleged that Raju Soni had murdered Sita Devi.

3. On the basis of this report, FIR No. 318/2013 (Ex.P/2) came to be registered at the Police Station, Purani Abadi, Sri Ganganagar on 17.09.2013 for offence punishable under Section 302, IPC. Investigation was assigned to SHO Shri Devendra Singh (P.W. 11). The dead body was subjected to autopsy at the hands of Medical Jurist Shri Mukesh Kumar Bansal (P.W.7), who issued a Postmortem Report (Ex.P/18), concluding that the cause of death was strangulation and also found Rigor Mortis present on the dead body at the time of the examination.

4. The accused was arrested and acting in furtherance of the information provided by him, under Section 27 of the Evidence Act, the chunni used for strangulating the deceased was recovered vide memorandum (Ex.P/6). Upon conclusion of investigation, the I.O. proceeded to file charge-sheet against the accused-appellant for offence punishable under 302 IPC. The case was committed to the Court of Special Judge (Women Atrocity and Dowry Cases), Sri Ganganagar, where charge was framed against the accused for the above offence. He pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

5. The prosecution examined as many as 11 witnesses and exhibited 23 documents to prove its case. Upon being questioned under Section 313 CrPC and when confronted with the circumstances appearing against him in the prosecution evidence, the accused denied the same, claimed to be innocent and stated that deceased Smt. Sita Devi was having enmity with number of persons, as a consequence whereof various criminal cases were filed against her. However, accused did not produce any evidence in support of his statement. Learned trial court, heard and considered the arguments advanced by the learned Public Prosecutor and the learned defence counsel; appreciated the evidence available on record and proceeded to convict and sentence the accused appellant as above vide judgment dated 19.07.2014 which is assailed in this appeal.

6. Mr. Vikash, learned counsel representing the appellant, contended that there is hardly any evidence worth the name on the record of the case so as to connect the appellant with the crime. The prosecution has failed to prove that the appellant was having any motive to murder Sita Devi. Counsel further contended that informant Pooja (P.W.9), alleged in the Written Report (Ex.P/1) that the accused was sitting on the stairs when she went to meet her mother around 11 AM. On seeing her coming, the accused ran away. On the contrary, the informant Pooja (P.W.9) stated in her testimony that she saw the accused appellant sitting on st