JUDGMENT

MISRA, J.:— The present appeal is directed against the judgment of the Bombay High Court at Nagpur dated 19th/25th of June, 1979, convicting the appellant under S. 302 of the Penal Code and sentencing him to death for the murder of Laxmi and her two children.

2. One Namdeo Gopal, resident of Shelgaon-Jahagir, was in the employment of Shankarrao Shewale, resident of the same village, as an agricultural labourer. Shankarrao Shewale had also land in another village Andrul at a distance of 15 miles from Shelgaon-Jahagir. Shankarrao had deputed Namdeo to cultivate his fields at Andrul about three weeks prior to the date of occurrence on 26th of Feb. 1975. He accordingly went to village Andrul leaving his wife Laxmi and daughter Manda aged about 10 years and his son Samadhan aged about 4 years at his residence in a locality known as Tagwale locality. During his absence Gambhir the appellant used to visit the house of Laxmi off and on.

3. The prosecution story as unfolded in evidence is that on 26th of Feb. 1975 Gambhir was seen in the house of Laxmi in the evening. He was also seen in the company of Laxmi at about 10.00 p.m. at night on the same day under a Neem tree. Thereafter neither Laxmi nor her children were seen alive. Next morning that is on 27th of Feb. the neighbours found that the thatched door of the house of Namdeo was open and household utensils and other goods in the house were lying in disorder. Laxmi and her children were not found there. The news spread in the village about the disappearance of Laxmi and her children. When Shankarrao Shewale, the employer of Namdeo got the news, he proceeded to village Andrul and brought Namdeo back in the evening of 27th of Feb. 1975.

4. Namdeo along with Shankarrao Shewale and certain other persons proceeded to police station, Chikhli, at a distance of 8 miles from village Shelgaon-Jahagir for making a report. Shri Chaudhari incharge of the police station recorded the first information report and proceeded to village Shelgaon-Jahagir. He also sent a requisition for the assistance of a dog squad to the authority concerned at Aurangabad. Shri Chaudhary for some time waited for the arrival of the dog squad, but when the dog squad did not arrive, he commenced preliminary investigation. He tried to open the lock of the inner living room. The lock, however, could not be opened so he pulled-up and seized the same under a Panchanama. He peeped into the room through the shutters and found things lying in disorder. He, however, did not enter the room so that the effectiveness of the dog squad might not be lost by the entry of other persons in the house. He closed the door and locked the room with another lock.

5. The dog squad did not arrive till the evening of 28th Feb, 1975. The Investigating Officer lost his patience and he along with the Panches climbed on the roof of the house and pushed aside the tin sheets covering the room. He peeped into the room with the help of a torch light and found foul smell coming from the room. He also sought to remove the clothes covering a corn-bin with the help of an iron bar and on removing the clothes he found legs of human being. He thereafter set right the tin sheets on the roof as before.

6. At long last the dog squad arrived on the 1st of March, 1975, and the police with the Panches entered the house. One broken trunk lying inside the house and the lock which was broken open was shown to the dog, which took its smell and started moving about searching the area and locality around. Eventually the dog went to the house of the appellant and stopped there. The appellant was arrested and at the time of his arrest some injuries were found on his person. The shirt and the dhoti put on by him at the time of his arrest were also found to contain stains of blood. On interrogation, the accused offered to point out the well where the dead bodies of Laxmi and her daughter Manda were lying. Many more articles are alleged to have been recovered on his pointi