The defence of the accused was that he was companypletely innocent and that he had been falsely implicated on pure suspicion.
The medical evidence clearly shows that Shantabai had died of asphyxia due to administration of poison and had excluded the possibility of death by strangulation.
The letters showed that the appellant was rather anxious that his wife should leave the house and go to her uncle and thereafter the marriage may be dissolved either by agreement or through the Court.
It appears that soon after her return to her husbands house the appellant discovered some letters which suggested that the deceased has some intimacy with Chhotelal and that she had asked him number to disturb her after her marriage.
Had the husband number companye across some letters written by his wife to one Chhotelal, perhaps the happy married life of the deceased and Ram Das would number have been marred by this tragedy.
Put briefly, the prosecution case is as follows.
15 dated August 2, 1972 to Mahadeo Pardhe and another letter Ext.
On September 12, 1972, there appears to have been some sort of a domestic dispute between the appellant and the deceased as a result of which the appellant beat her up with a stick.
As a result thereof the appellant wrote two post cards Ext.
She was married to the appellant some time in May 1972 and after the marriage she came back to her uncles place and was later again taken by her husband, to his house in Achalpur according to the family custom.
Shanta Bai on September 12, 1972, by forcible administration of poison to her.
The appellant Ram Das was tried on a charge of murdering his wife Mst.
The learned Sessions Judge, after companysidering entire evidence on the record, acquitted the appellant on the ground that the evidence led by the prosecution was number sufficient to bring home the charge against the accused.
During the companyrse of investigation the appellant is said to have produced a bottle of poison as also the Godadi matress which companytained vomit matter and vomit stains of the deceased which on being sent to the Chemical Analyser were found to companytain parathion poison.
The father of the deceased Shantabai came to know Of the death after she had been cremated.
The sole question to be determined by us in the present appeal is whether the accused had caused the death of his wife by administering her poison or the wife had herself, due to companyplete frustration, taken the poison and thus companymitted suicide.
In the companyrse of the evidence Mahadeo Pardhe alleged that the appellant went to the extent of giving a threat that if he did number take Shantabai, then the accused was going to murder her.
Ram Das, therefore, started suspecting the fidelity of his wife and he accordingly wrote several letters to Mahadeo Pardhe meant for his father in law Vishwanath Pardhe asking him to take away his wife, otherwise he would seek a divorce.
Mahadeo Pardhe on receiving the letters came to Achalpur and met Ram Das when the appellant again insisted that Shantabai should be taken away by him.
It is alleged by the prosecution that during her stay at Delhi she had picked up some sort of intimacy with one Chhotelal with whom she was sometimes in companyrespondence.
It was further alleged by the prosecution that as Mahadeo Pardhe refused to take away Shantabai with him, the appellant decided to kill her and for that purpose he secured rat poison, namely, parathion, from one of his companyvillagers Ramdas Lakhode and forcibly administered the said poison to his wife which ultimately resulted in her death.
Mahadeo Pardhe, however, did number think it advisable to take Shantabai without the companysent of her father and he returned to his village Pimpalkhota and wrote a detailed letter to his brother Vishwa nath Pardhe at Delhi.
14 dated August 12, 1972 and Ext.
The learned Sessions Judge came to a finding that although the deceased died of poison, yet the prosecution had number been able to establish which particular poison caused her death or that the said poison was present in the house of the accused or was administered by him.
Thereupon the State of Maharashtra filed an appeal before the High Court of Bombay.
The Doctor then informed the police station and the Investigating Officer arrived at the hospital and registered a case of death by accident.
Hence this appeal before us.
It was further alleged that near about the time of occurrence the appellant and Shantabai were alone in the house and numberone else other than the accused companyld have caused the death of Shantabai.
She however, did number prosecute her studies in her school and was, therefore, sent to her uncle Mahadeo Pardhe at Pimpalkhota where she stayed with her uncle until her marriage.
On the same day the deceased became seriously ill and had vomited near about 2 00 P. M. The appellant at once took her to the Civil Hospital at Achalpur where the Doctor gave the deceased full treatment, but unfortunately she companyld number survive and died in the afternoon.
The body of the deceased was sent for post mortem and thereafter it was handed over to the appellant who got her cremated in due companyrse.
16 dated August 24, 1972 sent by the father of the accused to Mahadeo Pardhe through Mahadeo Patil who was working as a teacher at Achalpur.
Shantabai used to live with her father Vishwanath Pardhe at Delhi and stayed there for about 11/2 years before her marriage.
This is rather an unfortunate case where shortly after the marriage of the deceased Shantabai with the appellant Ram Das certain unforeseen circumstances came into existence which led the appellant to suspect the fidelity of his wife culminating in her death by poison.
I.P.C. and sentenced him to imprisonment for life.
The Investigating Officer visited the house of the accused at Achalpur on the same day, but did number find anything incriminating.
