NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR Criminal Appeal No. 697 of 20 18 [Arising out of judgment dated 26.03.2018, passed in Sessions Case No.39 of 2017 (State of Chhattisgarh v. Rakesh Kumar Kenwat), by the Sessions Judge, Janjgir-Champa (C.G.)]

Rakesh Kumar Kenwat, Son of Ramkumar Kenwat, aged about 28 years, Resident of Village Katnayee, Police Station Akaltara, District Janjgir-Champa (Chhattisgarh)

---- Appellant (In Jail)

Versus State of Chhattisgarh, through Police Station Akaltara, District Janjgir-Champa (Bastar)

---- Respondent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For Appellant : Ms. Nirupma Bajpai, Advocate/Panel Lawyer appointed through CG High Court Legal Services Committee For Respondent : Mr. Somya Rai, Panel Lawyer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Division Bench Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal and Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay S. Agrawal Judgment on Board (03.07.2024)

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J (1) Invoking criminal appellate jurisdiction of this Court, the sole appellant herein has preferred this criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of Cr.P.C., calling in question the legality, validity and correctness of the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 26.03.2018, passed in Sessions Case No.39 of 2017 (State of Chhattisgarh v. Rakesh Kumar Kenwat) by the Sessions Judge, Janjgir-Champa, whereby he has been convicted and sentenced as under:

[All the sentences are directed to run concurrently]

(2) The case of the prosecution, in short, is that on 31.03.2017, between 08-09 PM in the night, in the house of Firtin Bai, situated near Mata Chowk, Village Katnayee within the ambit of Police Station Akaltara, the accused-appellant herein with the intent to kill Firtin Bai (hereinafter referred to as the “deceased”) firstly illegally trespassed into her house and, thereafter, assaulted her by means of wooden plank on her head and face, due to which, she suffered grievous injuries and died and, further, committed robbery of gold and sliver jewelry/ornaments belonging to the deceased and, thereby, said to have committed offences under Sections 302, 450 & 392/397 of IPC.

(3) It is further case of the prosecution that when Manmohan (PW-01), son of the deceased, reported the matter to police, FIR (Ex.P/01) was registered and wheels of investigation started running, in which, summons under Section 175 of CrPC were sent vide Ex.P/02 and inquest proceedings were conducted vide Ex.P/03. ‘Nazari Naksha’ was prepared vide Ex.P/11. Merg intimation was also recorded vide Ex.P/06. The dead-body of deceased was sent for postmortem examination, which was conducted by Dr. Ganeshram Armor (PW-11) and, as per PM report (Ex.P/18), cause of death of the deceased is head injury caused by hard and blunt object and nature of death is homicidal. The appellant-accused was arrested vide Ex.P/21 and his memorandum statement was recorded vide Ex.P/13. Pursuant to the memorandum statement of the appellant, weapon of the offence i.e. wooden plank alongwith gold lockets, gold beads (gehu/moti dana) one sliver amulet (tabiz) and blood stained clothes (shirt and jeans) were seized vide Ex.P/14 to Ex.P/16 respectively. Further, from the place of incident, gold and silver jewelry/ornaments were also seized vide Ex.P/07. The aforesaid seized articles were sent for chemical examination and, in FSL report (Ex.P/25), it has been opined that apart from othe