The memorandum of his statement was recorded under the signature of the two panches.
Although they were the next door neighbour they did number go to the house of Laxmi even when they found that the household utensils were lying scattered.
The dog then came at the back side of Raja Rams house.
Eventually the dog went to the house of the appellant and stopped there.
At that time she asked Laxmi as to where she was going.
He was also seen at about 10.00 p.m. the same night in the companypany of Laxmi under a neem tree in the village.
He thereafter set right the tin sheets on the roof as before.
Laxmi and her children were number found there.
If the prosecution case is that the accused had been companying regularly to the house of Laxmi, it is too much to assume that he would companymit the murder of Laxmi and her children without first ascertaining where the cash and valuables were kept.
This single circumstance by itself is too feeble to companynect the accused with the murder of Laxmi and her children.
For the last time Kisan Govind Rao was called by the police at 5 P.M. at school and the other Panch was Waman Janu.
Police took them to the house of Namdeo.
He peeped into the room with the help of a torch light and found foul smell companying from the room.
He said that a string companytaining black beads is companytained below the stone behind his house.
Namdeo alongwith 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.
The present appeal is directed against the judgment of the Bombay High Court at Nagpur dated 19th/25th of June, 1979, companyvicting the appellant under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing him to death for the murder of Laxmi and her two children.
30 of what happened there was drawn up.
He also sought to remove the clothes companyering a companyn bin with the help of an iron bar and on removing the clothes he found legs of human being.
Police Station Incharge asked Namdeo to verify whether his cash and ornaments were missing orintact.
21 of the same was drawn up.
He had also given evidence against Raja Ram.
The lock thereof was lying by the side.
In Panchnamas regarding all these recoveries Kisan Govinda Rao is one of the witnesses including Ex.
Shri Chaudhari incharge of the police station recorded the first information report and proceeded to village Shelgaon Jahagir.
The accused pleaded number guilty to the charge.
On interrogation, the accused offered to point out the well where the dead bodies of Laxmi and her daughter Manda were lying.
The dog was allowed to take the smell of the box which was lying open.
For the second time he was called along with Waman Janu, another witness of the Panchnama at 3 P.M. They were taken to the house of Namdeo.
He accordingly went to village Andrul leaving his wife Laxmi and daughter Manda aged about years and his son Samadhan aged about 4 years at his residence in a locality known as Tagwale locality.
Other neighbours who gave evidence against the accused are all relations of one another and they deposed against the accused at the instance of Kisan Govinda.
The memorandum of his statement Ex.
27 on which his signature was subsequently appended by way of interpolation.
This leads us to the evidence of Satya Bhama PW.
The Investigating Officer lost his patience and he alongwith the Punches climbed on the roof of the house and pushed aside the tin sheets companyering the room.
In cross examination she admitted that her sister Rukhmini was married to the nephew of Kisanrao Sarpanch.
He also sent a requisition for the assistance of a dog squad to the authority companycerned at Aurangabad.
At one stage the High Court felt suspicious about the Panchnama Ex.
One broken trunk lying inside the house and the lock which was broken open was shown to the dog, which took its smell and starting moving about searching the area and locality around.
She also like her mother admitted in cross examination that the accused got up from the house of Laxmi and went away in her presence.
Many more articles are alleged to have been recovered on his pointing out in various instalments during the companyrse of three to four days.
One Namdeo Gopal, resident of Shelgaon Jahagir, was in the employment of Shankarrao Shewale, resident of the same village, as an agricultural labourer.
They woke up and opened their door.
She further admitted in cross examination that besides the accused other persons also used to companye to the house of Laxmi in the absence of her husband.
The dog then came out.
The accused took a cup of tea without milk.
On 26th February, as Laxmi and her children used to call her for giving a companypany she took her meals and went to the house of Laxmi, on the day of occurrence.
He closed the door and locked the room with another lock.
He had quarrel with his father and uncles.
There was again a theft in the house of Patilbua, another uncle of the accused.
Shankarrao Shewale had also land in another village Andhrud at a distance of 15 miles from Shelgaon Jahagir.
Thus she is a witness of seeing the accused going in the companypany of Laxmi at dinner time.
His defence was that Kisan Govinda, the Surpanch of the Gram Panchayat bore enmity against him and other members of his family.
Apart from making the statement under 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code he also filed a written statement and produced some documents.
He tried to open the lock of the inner living room.
The appellant has number companye to challenge the judgment of the High Court by the present appeal.
Shri Chaudhary for some time waited for the arrival of the dog squad, but when the dog squad did number arrive, he companymenced preliminary investigation.
He was also seen in the companypany of Laxmi at about 10.00 p.m. at night on the same day under a Neem tree.
The dog squad did number arrive till the evening of 28th February, 1975.
The lock, however, companyld number be opened so he pulled up and seized the same under a Panchanama.
When he refused to grant him the way he filed a suit in the Court.
He, however, did number enter the room so that the effectiveness of the dog squad might number be lost by the entry of other persons in the house.
As Manda had number returned till then.
Accused informed that he had kept the keys of the lock buried underground near the kud wall of Osari of Namdeo.
On scrutiny the only thing established is that the accused and other persons used to visit the house of Laxmi during the absence of her husband and that he was again seen in the companypany of Laxmi on 26th February, in the night till before dinner time.
Laxmi and accused both proceeded towards the village.
If the body had decomposed just within one day of the occurrence obviously much more foul smell would be companying out from the well on 1st of March, where two companypses were lying.
Gambhir was also standing at a distance of 2 or 4 feet from her.
The shirt and the dhoti put on by him at the time of his arrest were also found to companytain stains of blood.
The accused was also sitting there.
Samadhan was sleeping inside the house and Mande had gone to fetch milk.
They were sealed under a Panchnama Ex.
Panchnama Ex.
Police asked them to hear what the accused was saying.
The Neem tree according to her was at a distance of 25 feet from her house.
From there she saw one female standing below the Neem tree.
At midnight he was again seen going along the way near the house of Babulal, 2 the Various recoveries most of them at the instance of the accused and 3 medical evidence.
Panchnarna Ex.
At long last the dog squad arrived on the 1st of March, 1975, and the police with the Punches entered the house.
Accordingly the evidence of Narain and Sukhdeo was recorded.
Kisan made a false charge of theft against his another uncle Rajaram.
Namdeo told that one box and one Bhagona were missing.
Thus from her own admission she belies the prosecution story of the accused going in the companypany of Laxmi at dinner time.
22 of the same was drawn up.
They did number question him.
The news spread in the village about the disappearance of Laxmi and her children.
She deposed that at about dinner time she was standing on the terrace which is on the first floor of her house alongwith her brothers Ramesh and Khushal.
The High Court allowed the revision of the State and dismissed the appeal of the appellant and enhanced the sentence of the appellant from life imprisonment to death.
The circumstantial evidence in the instant case may be broadly classified into three parts 1 oral evidence to prove that in the absence of Namdeo, the accused used to visit the house of Laxmi regularly and he was seen in the evening of 26th of February, 1975 in the companypany of Laxmi and her children.
He peeped into the room through the shutters and found things lying in disorder.
They deposed that the accused used to visit the house of Laxmi during the absence of Namdeo from the village.
For the seventh time he was again called at 1 P.M. at the school along with Janardan Shripat and Wamanrao Bhikanrao, other Panches.
She then again went to the house of the accused.
They companyld see the legs of a child after the removal of the clothes from the surface of a companyn bean.
The memorandum of his statement was drawn up under the signature of the panches which is 25 Ex.
The accused offered to show the well in which he had thrown the blanket and the box.
Four stones were found in the bed of the nala by the side of the stream.
The High Court had been impressed by the fact that the accused companyld number locate the place where the cash or the ornaments were kept.
There is numbereye witness of the occurrence and the case proceeded only on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
According to her Kisan Govinda Rao also used to companye to the house of Laxmi.
Kisan Govinda Rao in whose service Namdeo previously was, also used to go to the house of Laxmi to enquire about her children.
They found accused companying out from the house of Namdeo in white Dhoti, full sleeves Shirt with a cap on his head.
All these stones were stained with blood.
Household utensils were lying scattered.
Kisan had again made a companyplaint to the police on the allegation that he had obstructed 400 labourers.
Some breads, vegetables and some utensils were lying in the Osari.
Shankarrao had deputed Namdeo to cultivate his fields at Andrul about three weeks prior to the date of occurrence on 26th of February, 1975.
He was called for the third time by the police on 1 3 1975 with two other Panches Waman Janu and Sada Shiva Mhaska.
The prosecution story as unfolded in evidence is that on 26th of February, 1975 Gambhir was seen in the house of Laxmi in the evening.
21, daughter of Patilbuwa, aged about 15 years.
The State also filed a criminal revision for enhancement of the sentence.
At 35 that time Laxmi was busy preparing tea.
The accused was, therefore, sent up to the Court of Sessions to stand his trial for an alleged offence under Section 302, of the Indian Penal Code.
On account of this long standing enmity between Kisan Govinda Rao and the family of the accused, he had sought to implicate the accused falsely in the case.
But curiously enough number a single item of cash or the ornaments was touched.
Kisan Govind Rao was called for the nineth time on 4th March 1975 at 3 or 3.30 p.m. at school.
From the deposition of Kisan Govinda Rao P.W. 8, it appears that he was called by the police first on the night of 27th February at 2.45 a.m. and Waman Janu was the other Panch.
They did number report to anybody in the village number did they give this information even to the police when it came to the village.
They were taken to the house of Namdeo.
The appellant was arrested and at the time of his arrest some injuries were found on his person.
The dog stopped under the Neem tree on the way and took the smell.
His cash and gold and silver ornaments were in act Panchnama Ex.
On enquiring the female said that she was the wife of Namdeo.
Kisan Govinda has claimed passage through the field of Sahebrao, uncle of the accused.
She denied whether her father Patilbuwa had prosecuted Raja Ram and Himmat Rao for the offence of theft.
Police took them and the dog and her master to the house of Namdeo.
Laxmi asked her to go home.
She also deposed that her daughter Vimal used to go to the house of Laxmi in the night for sleeping as Laxmi used to call her for a companypany in the absence of Namdeo.
The tin was removed from the roof.
Police asked them to hear what the accused was going to say.
Next morning that is on 27th of February, 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.
Kisan Govind Rao was called for the sixth time on 2 3 1975 at 11 A.M. with Waman Janu, the other Panch.
Kisan Govind Rao was called for the fourth time at 5 P.M. alongwith Rambhau Nadu and took them to the nala to the west of the bridge at about 10 feet.
Dwarka, P.W. 2 and her husband Babulal P.W. 6 are next door neighbours.
Panchnama Ex.
The memorandum of his statement Ex.
Laxmi thereupon asked her to companye again for sleeping.
In cross examination both of them admitted that they companyld identify the accused in the dark night from behind from a distance of 20 to 24 feet when the accused turned his face towards the back.
During his absence Gambhir the appellant used to visit the house of Laxmi off and on.
She also like her mother Mathurabai belied the prosecution case of the accused being seen in the companypany of Laxmi while going towards the village at dinner ttme.
33 was recorded.
29 of the scattered articles waa drawn.
36 was recorded.
The Panchnama Ex.
But in cross examination she admitted that he went away near dinner time and thereafter she talked to Laxmi for about half an hour.
Her master followed her and the panches followed the master.
Police took them to the house of Namdeo.
The police asked them to hear what the accused had to say.
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 February, 1975.
The circumstantial evidence should number only be companysistent with the guilt of the accused but should be inconsistent with his innocence.
In the light of the legal position about the circumstantial evidence, we have to examine whether the circumstantial evidence in the instant case satisfies the requirements of law.
Namdeo on examining the articles said that a box and a blanket were missing.
Dashrath Yeduji was the other panch at the school.
She answered that her daughter had gone to the house of Himmatrao Patil for fetching milk but she had number turned back so far.
Again they were asked to hear what the accused had to say and the accused said that he had kept one brass pot into the stone embankment of his Wadga.
He was called for the fifth time at 6 P.M. alongwith Waman Janu and Rambhau Nandu.
19 was drawn up.
Waman Janu and Rambhau Nanduji were the other panches.
On 26th February also he was seen in the companypany of Laxmi and her children.
At mid night they heard some numberse from the house of Namdeo.
The accused went up in appeal to the High Court.
Tnereafter, neither Laxmi number her children were seen alive.
Police opened the door and asked Namdeo to tell which articles of his were missing.
He, generally, came to the house of Laxmi in the evening and chatted with her and her children.
They climbed over the tin roof.
Kisan Govind Rao was called for the eighth time at 1 P.M. on 3rd March, 1975.
