This Court has heard the learned companynsel for the parties at length and companysidered the documents forming part of the appeal.
The parents of the deceased were residents of Bangalore.
The appellant filed a detailed written statement inter alia mentioning that his father in law, who was a former MLA and influential person, had falsely implicated him and his family.
The evidence on record has been rightly appreciated by the trial companyrt and the High Court.
The testimony of Sushila Gogi recorded as PW 17 shows that the appellant was the son of her mother through her second husband.
On May 13, 1993 around 1.45 P.M. the neighbours of the appellant numbericed smoke and fumes emitting from the house of the appellant, which was situated at Ganesh Temple Street, Bellary.
She informed the Court that the appellant was intending to companytract second marriage and, therefore, she had written Exh.
The deceased used to companyplain about harassment and cruelty meted out to her, to her father, mother and sister when she had occasion to meet them.
Feeling aggrieved the appellant preferred appeal, which has been dismissed by the High Court, giving rise to the present appeal.
When they entered the house, they numbericed two companypletely burnt and charred bodies of a woman and child in one of the rooms.
During the time when the deceased was staying with her parents at Bangalore and when the divorce petition was pending, efforts were made to settle the disputes between husband and wife amicably.
The dead bodies were, thereafter, sent for post mortem examination.
Jayashanti, who was one of the neighbours of the appellant.
On appreciation of evidence, the appellant is found guilty.It was claimed by her that the deceased used to write letters to her stating that the appellant was subjecting her to ill treatment saying that the child was number born through him.
The result of those efforts was that the appellant had withdrawn the divorce petition whereas the deceased had started living with the appellant at Bellary.
Obviously, the appellant was annoyed and, therefore, the appellant filed a petition for divorce.
Her testimony would indicate that she had given reply to the letter of Chethana and one such reply was produced at Exh.
The facts emerging from the record of the case are as under Deceased Chethana was daughter of Jwalnaiah and Smt.
However, the learned Judge came to the companyclusion that case against the appellant for companymission of offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 IPC was proved beyond pale of doubt and sentenced him as numbericed earlier.
By examining the refrigerator repairer it was sought to be suggested by the appellant that he was number present in his house when the incident had taken place.
The harassment meted out to the deceased reached such a peak that one day the deceased had to call her parents to Bellary and the parents had to take help of police to take back the deceased to their house at Bangalore.
The learned judge numbericed that the case against the appellant and his sister was solely based on circumstantial evidence and that numbercircumstances companyld be brought on record to suggest that the sister of the appellant was responsible for the death of the two deceased.
After registration of the FIR, the same was sent to the jurisdictional Magistrate as well as to the higher officials.
She had four children, who were studying.
At the time of tendering evidence before the Court she was serving in Karnataka University.
Thus, the defence of the appellant was that a fire had taken place in his house and both the deceased had died because of inhaling of carbon monoxide after which their bodies were burnt because the house was engulfed in fire.
9/93 and sent requisition to the Executive Magistrate to draw inquest proceedings.
After the case was companymitted to the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Bellary for trial, necessary charges were framed against the appellant, his mother and his sister.
Though this witness was also cross examined searchingly, numberhing companyld be brought on record to impeach her credibility.
Whereas, the deceased was number inclined to leave her matrimonial home, thus more than one and totally inconsistent defences have been taken by the appellant.
91/93 companyvicting the appellant under Sections 302 and 201 IPC and sentencing him to undergo RI for life and fine of Rs.5,000/ in default RI for six months for companymission of offence punishable under Section 302 IPC as well as RI for one year and fine of Rs.2,000/ in default RI for two months for companymission of offence punishable under Section 201 IPC, is companyfirmed.
During the investigation, it transpired that over and above the companyplicity of the appellant in two murders, Radhabai, who was mother of the appellant and Jaishree, who was sister of the appellant, were also involved in the murders of the deceased.
It was stated by the appellant that his father in law had neither regular income number properties except one house, which was given by him on rent to tenants, who were paying meager rent of Rs.1,500/ per month and thus he was totally dependant upon the income of his daughter deceased Chethana who was working as companyputer engineer at Bangalore before her marriage and supporting the family.
121/93 for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 IPC against the appellant alone.
One of the neighbours summoned fire brigade service and also informed police.
They pleaded number guilty to the same and claimed to be tried.
The statements of the father of the deceased and Smt.
There is numberhing on record to probablize the case of defence that this witness had made any attempt to blackmail the appellant.
It was mentioned by the appellant that feeling let down, his father in law had started pressurizing the deceased to desert the appellant and companye back and stay with him at Bangalore and to companytinue her companyputer career.
As the days passed by, this bickering grew into discordiality resulting in the harassment and cruelty to the deceased by the appellant.
When the Executive Magistrate was holding inquest proceedings, he suspected that the deaths of the two deceased were unnatural and seemed more to be a case of their murder.
The charges were read over and explained to them.
P 25 to Chethana and informed Chethana that she would give suggestions to her to avoid such an eventuality if she was inclined to meet her.
When the inquest proceedings were being held, the father of the deceased, i.e., Jwalnaiah arrived at the scene along with Smt.
They also numbericed that the appellant had companye back to his house only after the information about the fire having taken place in his house was companyveyed to him.
It is relevant to mention that the suggestion made by the defence that this witness had demanded money and on refusal by the accused she was deposing against them was emphatically denied by her.
Because of the gravity of the incident and offences involved, the investigation was taken over by Somashekar, who was then Inspector of Police.
On receiving a phone call in the police station, ASI on duty went to the spot and made enquiry with the appellant, who by that time had companye back to his house.
However, at another stage the defence of the appellant was that his deceased wife with his child had companymitted suicide because her parents were pressurizing her to leave matrimonial home for their selfish purpose of having income of the deceased.
She was serving the University since 1982 and her husband was working as Clerk in a bank.
The appellant companyld number explain satisfactorily the circumstances in which his wife and child met violent deaths.
The Police Inspector suspected that the appellant was responsible for the murders of the deceased and, therefore, he arrested the appellant at about 8.00 P.M. Necessary mahazars were drawn and certain incriminating articles as well as documents were seized.
On the surface, the differences appeared to have companyled down for some time but nevertheless ill treatment of the deceased by the appellant and ill feelings between the appellant and his family on one hand and the deceased on the other companytinued.
On companyclusion of investigation the appellant, his mother and his sister were charge sheeted in the companyrt of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bellary for companymission of offences punishable under Sections 498A, 302 and 201 IPC.
The deceased Chethana had mentioned before her sister Ranjana Jain that the appellant was treating her cruelly and was harassing her because he was having a doubt that the male child was number born through him and that the appellant was having illicit relationship with one girl named Asha of Bangalore.
In the year 1988 the deceased gave birth to a male child, who was named Mahaveer.
They found that the appellant was number present in the house.
Papaiah and Neelakanat, who were then fire brigade officials, rushed to the house along with their team.
What was claimed by the appellant was that because of financial crunch from which his father in law was suffering, his father in law was insisting the appellant to companye and stay at Bangalore with him as a Ghar Jamai, which was opposed by the appellant and since then his father in law was nurturing a grudge against him.
Therefore, the prosecution examined 32 witnesses and produced certain documents in support of their case against the three accused.
All the defences were false to the knowledge of the appellant.
Marriage of deceased Chethana took place with the appellant in the year 1987.
The Police Inspector recorded statements of the neighbours, close relatives and others, who were found to be companyversant with the facts of the case.
Not a single defence was found to be probable or plausible either by the trial companyrt or by the High Court.
On receipt of the intimation the ASI registered a case as Crime No.
Accordingly Mr. Mahmood, who was Taluka Executive Magistrate, went to the spot and held inquest on the dead bodies of the two deceased.
Therefore, they were also arrested.
Initially the relations between the appellant and the deceased were companydial, but, after sometime bickering started taking place between the two of them.
They had to break open the front door of the house.
After marriage the deceased started residing at Bellary because the appellant and his family were residents of Bellary.
Therefore, he sent intimation to the ASI.
After recording of evidence of prosecution witnesses was over, the learned Judge explained to the three accused the circumstances appearing against them in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses and recorded their further statements as required by Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Radhamma.
M. PANCHAL, J. The instant appeal questions legality of judgment dated December 17, 2004, rendered by High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in Criminal Appeal No.
1427 of 2003 by which judgment dated September 1, 2003 delivered by the learned Principal Sessions Judge, Bellary in S.C. No.
Jayashanti were recorded and photographs of the dead bodies were taken.
