The prosecution must establish each circumstance beyond reasonable doubt and extra-judicial confessions should be corroborated and proven to be voluntary and truthful.

JUDGMENT :

S.K. Mishra, J.

1. This is a case of uxoricide. The appellant- Renta Nag alias Shyam Sundar Nag assails his conviction and sentence to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- only, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of two months under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as "the Penal Code" for brevity) recorded by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Rourkela in Sessions Trial No. 78 of 2006 (arising out of G.R. Case No. 51 of 2006 of the court of the learned S.D.J.M., Panposh, corresponding to Lathikata P.S. Case No. 4 of 2006.

2. The prosecution case, in short, is that appellant- Renta Nag alias Shyam Sundar Nag and deceased-Basamati Nag were husband and wife. They were residing together in one house. There was some dispute between the deceased and the appellant in the night i.e. at about 09.30 A.M. of 09.01.2006 for which the appellant committed murder of the deceased by assaulting her by means of a crow bar and paniki (kitchen knife used for cutting vegetables). On 09.01.2006 the informant- Dasarath Gouda, the brother of the deceased, went to the house of the appellant and the deceased where he saw the dead body of his sister lying in the house and the appellant confessed before him that since there was a quarrel between each other, he assaulted the deceased by means of a crow bar and paniki, and killed her. The informant, therefore, lodged a report before the Inspector-In-Charge, Lathikata Police Station, Lathikata, District- Sundargarh. Since the report revealed cognizable offence, the Inspector-In-Charge, Lathikata Police Station registered a case and directed the Sub-Inspector of Police M.M. Mallick to take up investigation. The Sub- Inspector of Police made a requisition for deputation of a Magistrate to hold inquest over the dead body of the deceased and on 10.01.2006 conducted inquest over the dead body; sent the dead body for post-mortem examination; conducted raid and arrested the accused; recorded statement under Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, hereinafter referred as 'the Evidence Act', for brevity, and seized the iron crow bar and 'paniki' from the place of concealment. He also seized the sample earth; blood stained earth from the spot; made requisition to the Medical Officer for collection of sample blood and nail clippings and the same were collected; seized the wearing apparels of the deceased and the accused; made a prayer before the learned S.D.J.M., Panposh, to forward the exhibits for chemical examination and also made a requisition to the medical officer, who conducted post-mortem examination, by sending the weapon of offence i.e. the crow bar and the paniki, for his examination and opinion, and after obtaining the chemical examination report and expert opinion of the doctor who conducted post-mortem examination, finding a prima facie case, submitted charge-sheet against the accused/appellant under Sections 498-A and 302 of the Penal Code.

3. The appellant took the plea of complete denial of the allegations made against him. He further took the plea that he did not know how his wife died as he was not present in the house.

4. In order to establish its case beyond all reasonable doubt, the prosecution examined 9 witnesses. P.W. 1 (Dasarath Gouda) happens to be the brother of the deceased and the informant in this case. P.W. 2 (Droupadi Gouda) is the wife of the informant. She also stated about the post-occurrence scenario and alleged extra-judicial confession. P.W. 4 (Madan Gouda) is a witness to inquest. P.W. 5 (Abhiram Behera) is a witness to seizure of wearing apparels under Ext. 4. P.W. 6 (Prasanta Swain) and P.W. 7 (Subrat Ali) were examined to prove the disclosure statement made before the Investigating Officer. P.W. Nos. 6 and 7 have not supported the case of the prosecution and have been declared hostile. P.W. 8 (Rabindra Kumar Patel) is a Constable of Lathikata Police Station. He escorted t