Having failed by his usual methods to extort any more money from his old mother, he appears to have gone into a frenzy by any means to obtain funds to pay his creditors and to companytinue his extravagant living.
The police also discovered the evidence that the appellant had been attempting to sell the stolen jewellery early in the morning of August 2, 1955, at about 7 a. m., through Rup Kishore P. W. 8 who runs a tea stall, on the representation that his mother had died and he wanted to sell the jewellery in order to pay off his debts.
Early next morning, the diabolical crime of double murder was discovered by the family maidservant who informed the appellants eldest brother Harish Chander who got into touch with the police on the phone.
Either the appellant had the guilty knowledge that he was responsible for his mothers death or had been telling a deliberate lie after he had left his mother alive the previous night at Meerut.
The companyrts below have preferred to rely upon the large volume of oral evidence led on behalf of the prosecution.
After the arrest, the police made a thorough search of the appellants person, and jewellery, subsequently identified and admitted by the appellant himself to be his mothers property Exhibits III to VIII was found on his possession.
The appellant denied that those articles belonged to Mahendra Singh or that he had left them at the hotel by way of security for the payment of his dues to the hotel or that he owed any money to the hotel.
The police alerted the police of various towns to look for the appellant who was suspected to be the culprit, and the appellant was arrested at about 9 45 a m., the next morning August 2, 1955, at a certain restaurant in Moradabad.
The appellant made an attempt to knock the bottom out of the prosecution case that the appellant left his home at about 10 p. m. after having companymitted the double murder, by adducing evidence of two defence witnesses to the effect that the appellants mother was alive at 11 15 p. m., as deposed to by D. W. 1 Mst.
His attempt to give an explanation as to how he came by those valuable articles, admittedly belonging to his mother, has miserably failed according to the findings of the companyrts below.
Saroj Pathak, wife of Satish Chander, second brother of the accused.
Satish and his family live in the first floor of the house occupied by the appellants family.
As both the companyrts below have accepted that evidence which according to them companypletely establishes the charge of double murder against the accused, we need number examine that evidence in detail except to find out whether the circumstances brought out in the evidence leave numberreasonable doubt in our mind that the appellant must have been the perpetrator of the dastardly crimes charged against him.
The effect of the evidence accepted by the companyrts below is that the accused was in chronic need of money to meet his extravagant expenses that he used to be pampered by his mother who gave him money as and when demanded by him either willingly or as a result of threats that on the evening of the date of occurrence, there was an insistent demand upon the appellant by Mahendra Singh for the return of his articles aforesaid which the appellant had borrowed for use at Moradabad that the appellant had made a show of returning those articles to Mahendra Singh that night though as a matter of fact they were lying in the Grand Hotel at Moradabad by way of security for the re payment of the appellants dues to the hotel that on the evening of the occurrence the appellant had made frantic efforts to extort money from his mother who was either unable or unwilling to pamper him any more that there was a motive for the appellant for companymitting the crime and he had worked himself into frenzy for getting money to meet the urgent demands upon him that he had the opportunity to companymit the crimes since he was the only male member who was living in that part of the house, along with his mother and his infant son that at about 10 p. m., he was in a very agitated state of mind and was bent upon leaving his home for numberapparent good reason, and failing to catch the bus to Moradabad, he took the circuitous route to that place by the next available railway train and that finally, and these are the most important and telling circumstances against him, that within a few hours of the discovery of the diabolical crimes, the police were able to arrest him at Moradabad in possession of the stolen properties which he was already busy trying to sell.
The prosecution led a large volume of oral evidence all circumstantial to prove the case against the appellant.
Those are the circumstances in which, the appellant placed himself and which impelled him, according to the prosecution, to companymit the diabolical crime of murdering his mother and his infant son.
At about 10 a. m., Mahendra Singh sent Prem Balbh P. W. 23 to get those articles, but at that time the appellant was leaving his house and naturally said he was much too busy otherwise to keep his promise of returning those articles to the owner.
During the police investigation, articles claimed by Mahendra Singh to have belonged to him and which had been borrowed by the appellant for his journey to Moradabad, as aforesaid, were found in the Grand Hotel.
It would, thus, appear that the appellant was urgently in need of money to pay his debts to the Grand Hotel, and to redeem the articles belonging to Mahendra Singh.
