The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for circumstantial evidence to establish a chain of events with no missing link and give rise to the only conclusion that the accused committed the crime.

Per Bansi Lal Bhat, J.

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment formulated by learned 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu on 30th November, 2012 in case File No.61/TADA titled "State v. Deepak Kumar" by virtue whereof appellant/accused (for short, accused) has been acquitted of offence punishable under Section 302 RPC. State has filed the instant appeal questioning legality and correctness of the impugned judgment on the ground that the learned Trial Court has failed to appreciate the prosecution evidence and ignored the material evidence which was sufficient to record conviction of accused thereon.

2. Heard learned Senior Additional Advocate General at the admission stage and perused the record. Since we are of the opinion that the case can be disposed of at this stage, we have taken up the appeal for final consideration.

3. The factual matrix referable to the genesis of occurrence in the case in hand is that on 20th September, 2009, PW- Ganesh Sharma approached Police Station - Akhnoor with a written report laying information that he had noticed foul smell emanating from the Sarkanda bushes in his land situated in village Danda lying at a distance of one and a half kilometers from his village Lehar and when he zeroed in, he found a badly decomposed body of a young lady with her neck fastened with a Dupatta and tied with the branch of a tree. The report was recorded and a case under FIR No.180/2009 was registered for offence punishable under Section 302 RPC. Investigation was embarked upon which revealed that the accused was in illicit relationship with the deceased for a pretty long time. Further the relationship between the accused and his wife turned sour, when she came to know about the illicit connection of accused with the deceased. Being fed up with the deceased, the accused hit upon a plan to do away with the life of deceased. The accused found a mobile set (Nokia-1650) having SIM No.9622091726 at village Bias Pur, Parlah. Same belonged to one Karan Kumar, who had misplaced it. The accused remained in touch with the deceased on the aforesaid mobile phone. Allegedly, he called the deceased to Miran Sahib after taking leave from his work place. It happened on 12th September, 2009. They met at Miran Sahib and from there they went to Akhnoor. The accused switched off his mobile having No.9797493721 after receiving the call from his house. He also persuaded the deceased to switch off her mobile phone. Thereafter, both of them boarded a Matador and reached at the place of occurrence. The accused had sexual intercourse with the deceased there and acting upon his plan, he committed murder of deceased by strangulating her with a Dupatta. Thereafter, he fled away from the spot alongwith Motorola mobile phone bearing SIM No.9858952182. While traveling to R.S. Pura in Bus bearing registration No.JK02D-1670, the accused threw away the aforesaid SIM Number of the deceased in the Bus. He had concealed the Motorola mobile set of the deceased in bushes by the side of a defence canal situated at Alawal Chak. The investigation further revealed that the accused broke the SIM card No.9622091726 and threw it away. He exchanged the mobile set Nokia-1650 with one Surinder Kumar for his Chinese Mobile set. Police seized the Dupatta, one bundle of hair, one salwar of blue colour, besides plain and blood stained clay which were sealed on spot and sent to FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) for Expert opinion. A plastic bag of red and white colour, one pair of chappal and lady's purse were also seized on spot. The body of the deceased was shifted to hospital for postmortem. Statements of witnesses under Section 161 Cr.PC were recorded. Body of deceased lady was identified as that of Rani Devi-wife of Subash Chander. Call details of Mobile phone No.9858952182 of deceased were obtained. The accused was arrested and subjected to interrogation.

4. On the disclosure statement of accused, Motorola mobile set of deceased was recovered from a site nea

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