Honble S.N.H. Zaidi, J.—Criminal Appeal No. 656/2008 has been preferred under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure,1973, in short Cr.P.C., by Dhruv Kumar Tiwari @ Pappu against the judgment dated 6.10.2007 and order of sentence dated 10.10.2007 passed by Addl. Sessions Judge, Court No. 4, Kanpur Nagar in S.T. No. 771 of 2001, whereby he has been sentenced to death under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, for short I.P.C. Criminal Appeal No. 7865 of 2007 has been preferred by the Appellant from the Jail. For the confirmation of the sentence of death a Reference under Section 366 (2), Cr.P.C. has been received from the trial Judge.

2. The aforesaid Appeals and Reference have been connected and are being disposed of together by the present judgment.

3. The case of the prosecution, as revealed from the statements of the prosecution witnesses, in brief, is that on 10.2.2001 at about 8 P.M. the complainant P.W.1 Nishit Kumar Sharma had gone to meet his in-laws, who were residing in a nearby house in Mohalla Shutur Khana of Kanpur Nagar, along with his wife P.W. 6 Smt. Manju Sharma and his 7 years old daughter Km. Medha. In his in-laws house there lived his father-in-law Shyam Bihari Awasthi, mother-in-law Smt. Ram Kishori, unmarried brother-in-law Shailendra Kumar Awasthi @ Pintu, and married brother-in-law Narendra Kumar Awasthi @ Guddu with his wife and daughter. The appellant, who happens to be a distant relative of Shyam Bihari Awasthi, was also residing and taking meals in that house and though he was working in a Pan Masala factory yet, he also worked as a domestic help and was present in the house. On that day, Narendra Kumar Awasthi @ Guddu was not present and had gone for Darshan of Vaishno Devi with his family on 6.2.01 and was to return on 12.2.2001. As Smt. Ram Kishori was not feeling well, therefore, her daughter Smt. Manju Sharma cooked the food and when all the inmates of the house, including the appellant, had taken the dinner, then complainant Nishit Kumar and Smt. Manju Sharma returned to their home at about 11.00 P.M. but their daughter Km. Medha was left with her grand mother (Nani) in the night. During the period when the complainant remained in that house, P.W. 2 Dinesh Tiwari and one Awdhesh Bajpai also came there to meet Shyam Bihari Awasthi.

4. On the next date, i.e., on 11.2.2001, at about 8 in the morning when the complainant visited his in-laws’ house to bring back his daughter Medha for school, he found the main door of the house locked from outside. He got the lock broken with the help of neighbours and then it was found that Ram Kishori and Medha were lying dead on the floor of the bed room of the second floor and Shailendra Awasthi @ Pintu was also lying dead on the double bed in the same bed room and the blood, broken hairs and pieces of bangles were lying scattered on the floor and on the third floor of the house, the dead body of Shyam Bihari Awasthi was lying on a folding bed. All the deceased persons were badly injured. The golden chain and Jhumki of Ram Kishori were missing from her person. On the ground floor blood stained pant, woollen sweater and a vest of the appellant were found hidden behind a box. There were five dogs in that house, of which two dogs were of German Shepherd breed, one of mixed Alsatian breed and the remaining two of Pamerean breed. The dogs were found confined in two rooms whereas one German Shepherd was tied with the railing of the roof.

5. The complainant got the report (Exhibit Ka-1) scribed from Arun Sharma and gave it at Police Station Harbansh Mohal at 9.10 A.M. on the same day. In that report it was also mentioned that Dhruv Kumar Tiwari had absconded after committing the murders with the help of his associates. P.W. 5 H.C.P. Ram Raj Singh wrote down the Chik FIR (Exhibit Ka-6) on the basis of written report and registered the case at G.D. No. 18 (Exhibit Ka-7) under Sections 302/404, I.P.C. against Dhruv Kumar Tiwari and his associates. P.W.10