Advocates appeared :
For the Appellant : For the Appellant : Prakash Upadhyay, Shreyas Pandit

JUDGMENT SUJOY PAUL, J. : – These appeals filed under section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (In short “Cr.P.C) take exception to the judgment dated 10-12-2015 passed by III Additional Sessions Judge, Bhopal in Sessions Trial No. 258/2011 whereby appellants were held guilty for committing offence under section 302 of INDIAN PENAL CODE and directed to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs. 20,000/- with default stipulation. In addition, appellant Trayambak was held guilty for committing offence under section 380 of INDIAN PENAL CODE for which sentence of two years (R.I.) and Rs. 5000/- was imposed as fine. Both the punishments were directed to run concurrently.

Factual Background : – 2. In short, the story of prosecution is that on 17-1-2011 in Police Station Shahpura, complainant Umesh Saxena lodged a report that he received a phone call at about 2:15 A.M. from her sister-in-law Rani @ Shrutikirti that her father-in-law has been murdered. Complainant Umesh Saxena along with his wife Shashikirti rushed to his father-in-law Bishan Narayan Saxena’s house B-155 Shahpur, Bhopal at around 3:00 A.M.

3. The complainant found that deceased is lying on a chair/sofa and there is an injury on backside of his head. The blood is coming out from the wound. The blood stained axe is kept in the adjacent room. The almirah in another room is opened and its material is scattered in the entire room. The complainant lodged a report against unknown person alleging that his father-in-law was murdered by said person. Accordingly, Crime No. 47/2011 was registered for committing offence under section 302 of IPC.

4. The forensic team was called by police to examine the scene of crime. Mr. Sunil Gupta, Scientific Officer of Forensic Department examined the said place and found that deceased was sitting on a sofa and there were two injuries on the back of his head. The blood stains were found on the floor, sofa-set, paijama, kurta and maroon sweater of the deceased. No injury was found on remaining part of body except the head. In store room, the blood stained axe was found.

5. The forensic team prepared a spot map. They collected the blood from floor and from the wound of the deceased. The sample of hairs of deceased, a yellow medicine kept near dining table and blood stained axe were recovered. The Panchayatnama of dead body was prepared. A list of ornaments/materials allegedly looted from scene of crime were prepared. The body of deceased was sent for post-mortem.

6. The post-mortem report shows that reason of death is head injuries caused by hard and sharp object. Deceased Bishan Narayan Saxena died because of shock and excessive bleeding.

7. During the course of investigation, the appellant Gaurav Pandey was arrested and on the basis of his memorandum prepared under section 27 of Indian EVIDENCE ACT (in short ‘ EVIDENCE ACT ’), a polythene packet containing his blood stained shirt was recovered near Railway Station, Bhopal. Similarly, appellant Trayambak was arrested and pursuant to his memorandum prepared under section 27 of EVIDENCE ACT , his blood stained clothes were recovered from the house of Avnish. From the shirt, an ATM card of Central Bank was recovered. As per the memorandum of Trayambak, a gold ring was recovered from his friend Chati.

8. During the course of investigation, Sanjeev Ranjan Saxena produced a letter (Article-A) before the Court which shows that appellant Trayambak withdrew rupees from ATM card of deceased on three occasions. Since Rs. 2500/- were deposited in the account of deceased by somebody from Rewa, based on information of SBI Rewa, the information regarding account statement of Shri Arunendra Dwivedi, father of Trayambak was obtained.

9. The samples of finger print of both the appellants were obtained. The finger prints and seized materials were sent for examination to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Sagar.

10. In due course, the matter reached to the stage of the trial. The appellants abjure