(Delivered by Hon'ble Chandra Dhari Singh,J)

1. Heard Mr. Arvind Kumar Singh, learned Amicus Curiae for the appellant, Mr. Nagendra Bahadur Singh, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.

2. This instant jail appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 24.01.2001, passed by the 7th Additional District and Sessions Judge, Farrukhabad in Session Trial No.525 of 1997, by which the accused-appellant had been convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment along with fine of Rs.2,000/-. In the event of default in payment of fine, the appellant would further undergo simple imprisonment for six months.

3. Brief facts of the case.

(I) The story of the prosecution is that on 13.09.1996, when deceased Chhavinath was coming back from Mainpuri Bazar to his village, near Nagla-Ghus at about 8:00 p.m., the accused-appellant Ram Lakhan and his two unknown friend started inflicting knife blow on him. He started crying and asked help from the people. After hearing his loud noise, Shivpal PW-3 and Manoj PW-4 reached at the spot with torch and in the torch light, they had seen that the accused Ram Lakhan was inflicting knife blow to deceased. They tried to save him but the accused-appellant fled away from the place of incident while threatening them. Chhaviram died on the spot. The Tehrir was made on 14.09.1996, by complainant Shivpal PW-3 at police station Mohammadabad. On the basis of the Tehrir, an F.I.R. was lodged against the accused-appellant and other two unknown person for offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C.

(II) The police after registering the F.I.R., sent the dead body of the deceased to hospital for post-mortem. After completion of the investigation, the police filed charge-sheet against the accused Ram Lakhan, Jauhari Lal Jatav and Brijbhan for offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C.

III. Upon considering the materials available on record and hearing the counsel of both sides, the appellant was charged for offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. The charge was read over and explained to him. The applicant pleaded not guilty and claimed for trial.

IV. The prosecution in order to prove, its case examined PW-1 Harpal, PW-2 Ram Shree, PW-3 Shiv Pal, PW-4 Manoj Kumar, PW-5 Assistant Sub-Inspector Nabab Sher Khan, PW-6 Dr. Jagmohan Verma, PW-7 S.I. Har Prasad Singh. Site plan Ex.Ka-5, memo of blood stained soil and simple soil Ex.Ka-6, memo of recovery of blood stained shirt, paint, etc. Ex.Ka-7 were prepared by the police.

V. After appreciation of the evidences on record and other circumstances, the trial court had convicted the appellant for offence punishable under Section 302 and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.2000/-, in default of payment to undergo simple imprisonment for six months.

4. The Criminal Jail Appeal bearing No. 5192 of 2005 was filed against the order dated 24.01.2001, passed by the learned trial court in S.T. No.525/97 before this Court.

5. Mr. Arvind Kumar Singh learned Amicus Curiae appearing for the appellant has submitted that appellant has been falsely implicated in the crime for offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. It is submitted that the incident took place on 13.09.1996 at 8:00 p.m., but F.I.R. was lodged on next day i.e. 14.09.1996 at about 8:35 a.m. The delay in lodging F.I.R. was not explained with any adequate reason, therefore, unexplained long delay in filing the complaint, creates doubt as to the genuineness of the prosecution case. He further submitted that PW-1 Harpal, PW-2 Ram Shree and PW-3 Shivpal have stated in their deposition that when PW-1 and PW-3 reached at the spot, the dead body of deceased was lying there, they had not seen any person at the spot. In the main chief testimony, PW-1 and PW-3 stated that they had saw the incident but in cross examination, they denied that they had seen any person to kill the deceased. PW-1, PW-3 and PW-4