The sufficiency of circumstantial evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

JUDGMENT :

S. Muralidhar, J.

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 29th November, 2006 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Nayagarh in S.T. Case No.107/2005 convicting the Appellant for the offence punishable under Section 302 Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment (RI) for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- and in default to undergo RI for a further period of six months.

2. It must be mentioned at the outset that the FIR in this case was lodged on 31st May, 2004 and the Appellant was arrested nearly a month later on 30th June, 2004. He is stated to have remained in custody since then. This being a double murder of a woman and her infant son, the Court was not inclined to enlarge the Appellant on bail when it heard his bail application on 27th January, 2020.

3. This is a case based on circumstantial evidence. The case of the prosecution was that the deceased Sanju was the wife of one Prahalad Panda of village Kendupali. The deceased Krushna is a minor son. On 29th May, 2004 both Sanju and her son were found missing from their village and could not be traced. On the next day, the dead bodies of a child and female were found lying side by side which could not be identified by the people of the nearby villages present there. The faces of the dead bodies were found disfigured and appeared to have been crushed by stone. The Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Fategarh Police Station (P.S.), who reached there upon receiving the information found four pieces of stones with blood lying near the bodies along with the plastic bottle containing water, a pair of chapals, a blood stained jute bag containing wearing apparels of the lady and the child. He drew up a plain paper FIR at the spot and took up investigation of the case himself. A sniffer dog and Scientific Officer were deployed and the bodies were sent for post-mortem.

4. During investigation, the nexus of the accused with the murders came to light from the statement of the witnesses. The accused is stated to have confessed to having kept the ornaments of the deceased Sanju in the house of one of his relatives. At his instance, the ornaments of the deceased were recovered and seized. On completion of investigation, a charge sheet was submitted against the accused for the offence under Section 302 IPC. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

5. The prosecution examined 17 witnesses including 2 doctors (PWs 12 and 13). There were two Investigating Officers (IOs) i.e. PWs 16 and 17. The daughter (PW 4), the mother-in-law (PW 5) and husband (PW 10) of the deceased Sanju were also examined. There were witnesses to the seizure and to the inquest.

6. The trial Court on analyzing the evidence culled out the following circumstances as forming a continuous chain:

(i) The accused had a previous acquaintance with the family of the deceased;

(ii) The accused was on visiting terms with the family members of the deceased at their house;

(iii) On the day previous to the one on which Sanju and her son went missing, the accused was in the village of the deceased and had visited their house;

(iv) On the next morning, the accused was found to have accompanied the deceased Sanju and her son;

(v) On the day after they went missing, the dead bodies of the deceased persons were found at Hanumantia hillock;

(vi) It was established by prosecution witnesses that accused absconded soon after the occurrence till he was apprehended by police;

(vii) From the report of the doctor, it was established that the death of the deceased persons was homicidal and the cause of death was due to severe blows dealt on the heads of the deceased persons with sufficient force by means of stone;

(viii) The seized stones (M.Os.XVI & XVII) contained human blood and this substantiated the fact that they were used in the commission of the crime;

(ix) While in police custody, the accused made a statement that led to the recovery of the stolen ornaments which he had removed and kept in the