Jitendra Chauhan, J.

1. The present criminal appeal has been preferred by the appellant, namely, Ramji Lal, challenging the judgment and order dated 5.12.2001, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ferozepur (hereinafter as trial Court), convicting the accused (herein appellant) for committing offence punishable under Section 306, IPC and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of five years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/- and in case of default of payment of fine, to further undergc rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months.

2. The brief facts of the case as narrated in para 2 of the impugned judgment, are reproduced as under :-

"2. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution as unfolded by Puran Chand son of Surja Ram, he is resident of Village Sappan Wali and is an agriculturist by profession. He has one son and one daughter namely Raj Bala. Raj Bala was maried with Ramji Lal alias Pappu, resident of Village Dharampura about 8/9 years back but Ramji Lal used to maltreat his daughter. She gave birth to three sons but one of her sons died in her life time and her elder sons name is Sukhdev Singh, while the name of younger son is Ravi Kumar, who was aged about four years. At the time of birth of Ravi Kumar, he (complainant) gave sufficient gifts to the accused as per his status but he could not please Ramji Lal and he used to beat Raj Bala and when he used to go to his daughter, she used to narrate the tales of misery. On return to his village, he used to feel about sorry state of affairs and narrate maltretment suffered by his daughter to his brother Dhanna Ram and Doonger Ram. In this regards, he also convened a Panchayat and tried to reason out with the accused but to no avail. On. 18.5.2000, he went to the matrimonial house of his daughter at Dharampura, but he did not see his daughter there. When he asked about Raj Bala from his son-in-law Ramji Lal, he showed ignorance which made him suspect foul play and he was convinced that his daughter has gone away from the matrimonial house due to cruel behviour of his brother-in-law. He returned to his village and told his brother Dhanna Ram and Doonger Ram about missing of his daughter and thereafter, he took Sona Ram and Amar Dass, Panches of his Village to the Police Station, Abohar and informed the matter to the police and thereafter, he went on searching for his daughter but he could not collect her whereabouts. On the morning of 20.5.2000, when he along with Sub hash Chander and Sat Narain was searching for Raj Bala near Daulatpura, minor, he saw a dead body near the village Panjawa Mangal and when dead body approached near him, he recognized it as Raj Bala and thereafter, all of them took out dead body, when they took it out, he saw that on the back side of the dead body of Raj Bala, the dead body of Ravi Kumar was also tied with a piece of cloth. On the basis of statement, the instant FIR was registered and the investigation was put into, motion."

3. The accused was charge-sheeted under Section 306 IPC, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

4. In order to substantiate its case against the accused, the prosecution examined Dr. Ramesh Kumar, PW 1, who conducted the autopsy of the corpse of deceased Raj Bala and Ravi Kumar and opined that the cause of death of the deceased is asphyxia which occurred due to drowning; Puran Ram, PW-2 (complainant); Dhanna Ram, PW 3; Subhash Chander S/o Narang Lal, PW 4; Sita Ram (Photographer), PW 5; PHC Gurjit Singh, PW 6, who tendered into evidence his affidavit Ex.P-1 7; LC Karamjit Singh, PW 7, who was deputed to send the special reports to the Senior Officers and ASI Mohinder Singh; PW 8, who conducted investigation in the instant case.

5. On being examined under Section 313, Cr.P.C., the accused denied all the allegations of the prosecution and pleaded his false implication. He did not adduce any evidence in defence. The learned trial Court, after hearing both the parties, convict