The court ruled that in cases relying on circumstantial evidence, a complete and consistent chain must be established, excluding reasonable hypotheses of innocence for a valid conviction.

JUDGMENT

T. Amarnath Goud, J. - Heard Mr. J. Majumder, learned counsel appearing for the appellant and Mr. R. Datta, learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the State of Tripura-respondent.

2. This appeal has been filed under Section-374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgment and order dated 28.11.2019 and sentence dated 30.11.2019 passed by the Learned Sessions Judge, North Tripura, Dharmanagar, in connection with Case No. S.T. (Type-1) 03 of 2018 and sentenced him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life for the offence punishable under Section-302 of IPC and also to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/- with default stipulations.

3. The factual backdrop of the case, in a nut shell, is that Sri. Kiran Shankar Choudhury (PW-16), Sub-Inspector of Police of Kadamtala Police Station lodged a suo motu complaint with the Officer-in-Charge, Kadamtala Police Station stating inter alia that on 19.09.2015 at about 0605 hours Md. Furkan Ali (convict appellant) appeared at Kadamtala Police Station and disclosed that he killed his ex-wife Ayarun Necha, daughter of Md. Abdul Jabbar of South Pearacherra with a 'dao' at about 0100 to 0130 hours on the night of 19.09.2015 at his matrimonial house while she was sleeping. The fact was entered in the GD and police rushed to. The spot to verify the matter and police found the dead body of the woman was lying in front of the entrance of the dwelling hut and the body was having marks of severe injuries on her throat to neck and on her right arm.

4. On the basis of the aforesaid complaint Officer-in-Charge, Kadamtala Police Station registered Kadamtala Police Station case No. 2015 KDL 078 for commission of offences punishable under Sections-457/302/201 of IPC against accused Furkan Ali and endorsed the case to Sri. Sankar Das, Sub-Inspector of Police for investigation. On completion of the investigation and having found prima facie case the Investigating Officer furnished charge sheet No. 38/17 dated 30.11.2017 against accused-appellant Furkan Ali for the commission of offences punishable under Sections-457/302/201 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE .

5. Upon receipt of the aforesaid Charge-Sheet and on perusal of the same Ld. Chief Judicial Magistrate, North Tripura, Dharmanagar took cognizance of the offences punishable under Sections-457/302/201 of IPC against the appellant and copies of the incriminating documents were supplied to the appellant in compliance to the provision of Section-207 of Cr.P.C. and since the offences are triable exclusively by the Court of Session, the case record was committed to this Court.

6. Subsequently upon hearing both sides on the point of framing of charge being prima facie satisfied, charge under Section-302 of IPC in one head was framed against the appellant Furkan. After closure of the prosecution evidence, the convict-appellant was examined under Section-313 of Cr.P.C. with reference to the incriminating circumstances which were elicited from the evidence on record and the incriminating evidence were read over and explained to the appellant in Bengali in open court to which he denied the truth of the prosecution evidence claiming himself to be innocent and also denied to adduce any witness on his behalf.

7. To substantiate the charge, the prosecution adduced as many as 20 [Twenty] witnesses including the complainant and also exhibited certain relevant documents and materials [Exbts. 1 to 13/2]. Thereafter, the accused-appellant was examined separately under Section-313 of Cr.P.C. for having his response in respect to the incriminating materials those surfaced in the evidence as adduced by the prosecution.

8. The appellant herein, being aggrie