BEHERA, J.

( 1 ) THE appellant assails the order convicting him under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, the Code) for having committed the murder of Gunadhar Gochhayat (hereinafter described as the deceased) by intentionally and knowingly causing his death during the night of the 2nd/3rd January, 1979, in a cabin near the Taladanda Canal Bridge at Chhatra Bazar in the city ot Cuttack and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life and also the order of conviction under Section 307 of the Code recorded against him for attempting to commit the murder of Tarapada Jena (P. W. 13) during the same night with a sentence to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years, concurrently with the sentence passed against him under Section 302 of the Code. The appellant has been acquitted of the charge under Section 380 of the Code for committing theft of about Rs. 1,200/. which was in the possession of the deceased during the same occurrence.

( 2 ) THE case of the prosecution was that the appellant, after having made preparation for committing the murder of the deceased by purchasing the knife (M. O. I) from Bajrang Prasad Choudhury (P. W. 14), a dealer in stationery articles and hardware at Cuttack, entered into the cabin, where the deceased had been staying and dealing in eggs with Tarapada lena (P. W. 13) working as his servant, during the night of the 2nd/3rd January, 1979, committed murder by killing the deceased by means of M. O. I and then attempted to commit the murder of P. W. 13 also by the same weapon which was thrown on the spot and after breaking open a box, ,removed cash amounting to about Rs. 1,200/-in the possession of the deceased and while leaving the spot, locked the cabin from outside. On the following day, Hadibandbu Mohanty (P. W. 9), who had come to the market at Chhatra Bazar for purchasing fish in the morning, noticed that many people had assembled near the cabin which belonged to Basanta Kumar Roul (P. W. 4) and which was under the occupation of the deceased on rent. It had been locked from outside. A boy was raising a cry inside to give him some water. Through an opening between the planks of the cabin, it could be noticed that the deceased was lying dead and the boy had sustained severe injuries. P. W. 9 went to the shop of Daitari Roul where Markanda Kalia (P. W. 10) informed the police station on telephone. After the police authorities came, the cabin was opened by uprooting the hook. and the injured boy (P. W. 13) was brought out. A bicycle had been placed on the dead body of the deceased which was lying in a pool of blood. The wooden box inside the cabin had been broken. The report of P. W. 9 was treated as the first information report and investigation followed. The main part of the investigation had been taken up by the Inspector of Police (P. W. 24 ). On getting some clue that the appellant was the author of the crime, P. W. 24 searched the house of the appellant at village Nilveri and recovered and seized a plastic hand-bag (M. O. VIII) containing currency notes of different denominations and coins suspected to have been stained with blood and saliva of eggs, a shirt suspected to have stains of blood and a hand-bag containing stains looking like blood stains. The appellant was arrested on 6. 1. 1979 and as he had injuries on his person, he was examined by Dr. Bishnu Charan Das (P. W. 1), Associate Professor of Forensic Medicine of the S. C. B. Medical College at Cuttack, as per the injury certificate (Ext. 2 ). On chemical and serological test, human blood was detected in the knife seized from the spot, clothes of the deceased and the coins seized from the house of the appellant. Blood was detected in the full-shirt seized from the house of the appellant and the banian belonging to the appellant, but its origin could not be determined. No blood was detected in the currency notes or in the nail-scrappings of the appellant which had been taken in the course of investigation. A