The court confirmed the appellant's conviction for murder under Section 302 IPC, emphasizing that intent to kill a specific individual suffices for culpability, even if unintended victims die, affirming the transfer of malice principle under Section 301 IPC.

Judgment :

Chittaranjan Dash, J.

1. This Appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 25.11.1998 passed by the learned 2^nd Additional Sessions Judge, Cuttack in S.T. Case No.78 of 1996 (6/96), wherein the Appellant having been found guilty in the offences under Section 302 /307 of IPC has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 of IPC while no separate sentence has been imposed for the offence under Section 307 of IPC.

2. The brief facts giving rise to the present Appeal are that the Appellant, being the driver of a Mini Truck bearing Registration No. OR-05C-1646, is alleged to have intentionally caused the death of four persons, namely, Alekha Samal, Rajib Narayan Das, Hrushikesh Rout, and Golakha Chandra Nayak, by crushing them under the wheels of the said truck, which he drove rashly and rammed into the footpath in front of certain shops at the market, where people had assembled for marketing. The further charge against the Appellant is that he attempted to commit murder of Kalia @ Sukanta Patra (P.W.15), Dharua Sahu (P.W.10) Rabindranath Sahu (P.W.8) and Bula @ Sridhar Behera (P.W.9). It further appears that the Appellant had married to Kuni Behera (P.W.11), but their matrimonial life was strained, owing to which his wife often stayed in her parental home. The Appellant suspected that Kalia @ Sukanta Patra (P.W.15), a distant uncle of his wife, had developed an illicit relationship with her. Despite several efforts by the Appellant to bring back his wife to the matrimonial home, the same proved futile, and he attributed this failure to the alleged interference of P.W.15. On 30.03.1995, the date of occurrence, the Appellant drove the aforesaid Mini Truck to Pira Bazar from Cuttack, got down, and made enquiries from some persons regarding his dispute in securing the return of his wife. At that time, he came across P.W.15 who was present there, and abused him alleging that he was responsible for the discord in his matrimonial life. A quarrel ensued between the Appellant and P.W.15, during which the Appellant, in a fit of anger, threatened to crush P.W.15 under the wheels of the truck and left the spot. Thereafter, the Appellant drove the truck towards Salipur but soon returned to PiraBazar and, while driving the vehicle at a very high speed, rammed it into a group of people standing in front of the shop of one Jyoti Mohapatra @ Chandia, allegedly targeting P.W.15, who managed to jump aside and escaped. However, the truck ran over the aforesaid four persons, who died at the spot, and also caused severe injuries to four others. The Appellant then abandoned the truck in a nearby field. On the basis of these allegations, one Prakash Chandra Behera (P.W.19) lodged a written report on the same day, whereupon Jagatpur P.S. Case No.32 of 1995 was registered on 30.03.1995.

In course of the investigation, the police arrived at the spot, held inquest over the dead bodies, sent them for post-mortem examination, issued injury requisitions for the injured persons, examined witnesses, seized the vehicle, obtained the M.V.I. report, apprehended the Appellant, and upon completion of investigation, submitted charge-sheet.

3. The plea of the Appellant is one of complete denial and false allegations. The Appellant also pleaded that on the relevant day, he was not driving the Mini truck in question but kept the same in the field whereupon it was seized by the police.

4. To bring home the charges, the prosecution examined twenty witnesses in all. While P.W.1 is the betel sho