Circumstantial evidence, including possession of stolen items and witness testimonies, established guilt beyond reasonable doubt for murder and robbery.

1. Accused / appellant Anwar Khan has preferred this criminal appeal under S.374(2) of the CrPC through the Superintendent of Jail, Raipur, being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 20th April, 1995, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Khairagarh, in Sessions Trial No. 142/93, by which the learned Additional Sessions Judge after holding the accused / appellant guilty of the commission of the offences under S.449, S.302, S.394 read with S.397 and S.201 of the IPC, sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default of payment of fine to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for three months under S.449 of the IPC, to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default of payment of fine to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for six months under S.302 of the IPC and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years on two counts under S.394 read with S.397 and S.201 of the IPC. All the sentences where directed to run concurrently.

2. Briefly stated, the prosecution case is that on 26th March, 1993, Chandrika Prasad (PW 15) gave information at the Police Station; Kawardha at 00:30 hours that Bhawanabai (the deceased) was residing in his neighbourhood and for the last two days her house was locked from outside and some foul smell was coming out from the house. On receiving the information, the Police reached the spot, broke opened the door of the house, and found that the dead body of Bhawanabai was lying in a room in a swollen condition. A blanket was lying there and blood spots were found in the room. Information about death of Bhawanabai was sent to the nephew of the deceased who was residing in Village : Kharbana. Thereafter, the Station House Officer Satish Dubey (PW 23) reduced into writing the first information regarding the death of the deceased vide Ex. P23. After inspection, Panchanama, Ex. P1, of the dead body of Bhawanabai was prepared in the morning and the dead body was sent for post mortem examination with the Police Constable namely, Amar Singh. A bedding made of old pieces of cloth, one piece of bangle, plain soil, blood stained soil and one lock of Jackson make were seized under Ex. P2. On 28th March, 1993, at about 23:30 hours, one blood stained full pant of blue colour, one blood stained shirt also of blue colour, one knife, one blood stained dhoti, one plastic box, one golden ear ring, one nose ring, one suit case along with three saris, chappal and Rs. 300/- which were found in the suit case were recovered from accused Anwar in the Village; Jewdan. On 29th March, 1993, two sealed bags which were produced by Amar Singh, Constable were seized under Ex. P13. Witness Shyamlal gave Rs. 1,300/- which were seized under Ex. P.24. On 31st March, 1993, Rajendra Kumar Jain, Proprietor of M/s. Rajendra and Company produced one silver anklet, one silver armlet, one silver bangle, one paper slip which was tied with the ornaments and one book in which the entry regarding pledging of these articles were mentioned was seized under Ex. P19. On the same day, one receipt regarding pledging of these articles was seized, on being produced by accused Anwar under Ex. P25. On 31st March, 1993, one Vilam Chand Jain produced one silver necklace which was made of coins (gesy), seven pieces of minted rupee, one silver, saBh and one register were seized under Ex. P6. One pledge receipt was seized from Rajendra Kumar Jain vide (Ex. P18A. On 1st April, 1993, on enquiry, accused Anwar gave a memorandum Ex. P3 regarding keys and one silver gi