Being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and

order of sentence dated 4.5.2017 and 8.5.2017 passed by

the learned I Additional District and Sessions Judge,

Chitradurga,

in

S.C.No.139/2015,

convicting

the

appellant-accused

for

the

offence

punishable

under

Section 302 of IPC and sentencing to suffer imprisonment

for life for having committed the offence punishable under

Section 302 of IPC, the appellant/accused is before this

Court in appeal.

2. The brief facts of the case are as below:

The appellant-accused was chargesheeted by the

Circle Police Inspector of Nayakanahatti P.S. in Crime

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No.138/2015 for the offences punishable under Sections

302, 498A and 504 of IPC.

3. A case was registered by the said police against

the accused on the basis of a complaint (Ex.P2) filed by

PW.1-Palaiah, son of Doddakataiah, wherein, he had

alleged that his second daughter Kaveri loved accused-

Palaiah son of Boraiah about three years prior to the filing

of the complaint and they married at Nayakanahatti. After

marriage, they had come to Jaganuruhatti and were

staying there. For about a year, their relationship was

cordial and they had a child aged about 2 years. It was

alleged that since about two years prior to the incident,

the accused-Palaiah started suspecting the fidelity of

Kaveri alleging that she has illicit relationships with others.

Fed up by the ill-treatment by the accused, she had

returned to the parental house i.e. the house of PW.1.

Even then the accused -Palaiah used to visit her, abuse

her and used to threaten her saying that she would be

killed if she does not join his company. It was alleged that

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PW.1 and others had advised the accused to behave

properly.

4. It was further stated in Ex.P2 that on 29-09-2015,

at about 7.00 p.m. the accused came to the house of

PW.1 and abused the Kaveri and threatened that if she

does not join the matrimonial home she would be killed

and created ruckus. Accused was advised and sent back.

On 30-09-2015 at about 6.00 a.m. when the deceased

Kaveri had gone to attend to nature's call outside the

house, somebody came and informed PW.1 that, near the

land of one Badaiah, the accused- Palaiah murdered

deceased Kaveri. Immediately, PW.1 and his family

members and some others rushed to the spot and found

that Kaveri had fallen on the ground and by her side the

accused-Palaiah was standing with a handleless blade of

the Axe and when PW.1 and others tried to catch hold of

him, he escaped from the spot along with the blade of the

axe. Kaveri had sustained injuries on her neck and had

died at the spot.

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5. PW.6-B.V.Prakash,PSI, received the said complaint

and registered the FIR. PW.6 requested the Tahasildar to

conduct the inquest of the deceased since the death of

Kaveri was within seven years of the marriage. Thereafter,

the investigation was handed over to PW.9-Samiulla, CPI.

He visited the spot of the incident, conducted the spot

mahazar as per Ex.P3 and also prepared a sketch as per

Ex.P16 and seized MOs.1 to 4 from the spot. The accused

was arrested on the same day and his voluntary statement

was recorded. In pursuance to such voluntary statement

as per Ex.P17, the blood stained clothes of the accused

(MOs.5 and 6) were seized under a mahazar Ex.P5. Then

the accused led PW.9 and the panchas (PWs. 3 and 4) to

the spot of the incident and produced the axe blade-MO.7

which he had hidden under the tamarind tree. That was

seized by Investigating Officer under the mahazar as per

Ex.P6. I.O. also subjected MO.7 to the examination by the

Medical Officer, obtained his report as per Ex.P14.

Thereafter, he secured Post Mortem report Ex.P13 from

the Medical Officer and then recorded the statements of

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the witnesses. He also subjected the blood stained articles

to the examination of FSL Experts and after obtaining the

Reports, completed the investigation and filed the charge

sheet against the accused.

6. On committal of the case to the Sessions Court,

charges were framed by the