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The respondent took his trial on the allegations that on the intervening night of 11/12th October 1971 inside the house in Mohalla Moreganj Police Station Kotwali, Saharanpur committed the murder of his wife Smt. Kamlesh; burnt the dead body by sprinkling the kerosene oil and thereby caused the evidence of the offence of murder to disappear with an intention of screening himself from legal punishment. On the above allegations, he stood charge under two heads, that is under Sections 302 and 201 IPC.

They all lived under common roof, having common mess but in separate rooms in the first floor of their house with their respective wives and children. Smt. Darshnadevi and her younger son Virendra Prakash had occupied a separate room. The respondent had his clinic in the ground floor. PW-6, by name, Mohd. Aslam alias Chini was working as a Compounder in the clinic, occasionally doing domestic work.

Smt. Kamlesh had two brothers, by name, Mamchand and Suresh Chand (PW-2). Her elder sister's husband is one Nagesh Agarwal (PW-7). It transpires from the evidence that after her mother's death she had mostly lived in her elder sister's house till her marriage. After the marriage, she visited her parents and brother-in-law twice or thrice in quick succession and wrote some letters, two of which are marked as Exts. Ka-3 dated 18.9.1971 and Ka-4 dated 19.9.1971. The case of the prosecution is that some time after the marriage the relationship between the deceased and the respondent became strained. It is said that the respondent had on more than one occasion unleashed threats to shoot and kill the deceased. While it was so, on the fateful night the respondent and the deceased after taking their dinner slept in a room which was in their exclusive possession. In the morning the dead body of the deceased Smt. Kamlesh smelling of kerosene was found by the inmates of the house inside the bed room lying within a cot frame of the floor. The respondent and his family members came out with a statement that deceased had committed suicide by sprinkling kerosene and setting herself on fire. The respondent telephoned to the Superintendent of Police, Saharanpur (PW-3) and informed that his wife Smt. Kamlesh had committed suicide. PW-3 asked the respondent to inform the local police and told that he would himself soon reach the spot. Meanwhile, PW-4, Ram Krishan, a Head constable attached to the outpost Mali Gate came to the scene place on his way to Kotwali. He on receipt of the information about the death of Kamlesh telephoned to Kotwali Police Station and informed PW-13, another Head Constable about the incident. This piece of information passed on by PW-4 was entered in the General Diary (Ext. Ka-28) at 8.00 a.m. reading that PW-4 had informed over telephone that the wife of the respondent had died of burns. The Sub Inspector of Police, Ganga Ram Nagar (PW-10) in whose presence the telephonic message from PW-4 had been received at Kotwali, immediately proceeded to the scene accompanied by another S.I. Asthan and Inspector Wajid Ali Khan (PW-14). They all reached the scene at about 8.30 A.M. and found a crowd of about 150 to 200 persons at the scene house. On reaching the scene house, PW-10 found a basket with some snacks and sweets lying scattered in the court-yard. The police party went to the upstairs and found the respondent and other members of the family present. Insides the bed room the dead body of the deceased was found lying on the floor within the frame of the cot with extensive burns. An inquest was held over the dead body. Certain photographs (Exts. A-D, F and G) were caused to be taken with the help of PW-11, a photographer. The inquest report is filed as Ext, Ka-8. After sending the dead body for post-mortem, PW-10 inspected the scene place and prepared the site plan (Ext. Ka-10). The room in which the dead body was lying had its door opening to the inner balcony towards east. Adjacent to this room there was a small kitchen containing utensils and other articles. The wooden frame of the cot was scorched. About two steps away from the dead body a match box containing a large number of burnt match sticks was found lying. A thin layer of smoke was present on the walls and ceiling of the room. A plastic bucket with water was found two or three steps away from the dead body, but there were no signs of water having been poured either on the dead body or in the scene room. A medicine box was found inside the room with an injection syringe fitted with a needle. A five litre kerosene oil tin was in the room containing about a litre of kerosene. All the articles (Exts. 4 to 22) which were found inside the room were recovered under Memos (Exts. Ka-11 to Ka-17). Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police (PW-3) reached the spot by about 9.15 a.m. He also inspected the place of incident and left the scene after giving instructions to the Investigating Officer. The Investigation Officer after examining the inmates of the house came to the station; made an entry in the General Diary (Ext. Ka-18) and registered a case against the respondent under Section 302 IPC on entertaining a suspicion against him on the materials that he had collected.

PW-1, the Medical Officer attached to the District Hospital, Saharanpur, conducted necropsy on the dead body of the deceased on the following day i.e. 13.10.1971. The dead body with blackening of the skin was smelling kerosene. The hands of the deceased were clenched. The eyes were congested and the eye-balls were prominent. The tongue was swollen and protruding out and also compressed between the teeth. Blood mixed with froth was coming out through nostrils. On internal examination, the Medical Officer found the 6th and 7th ribs fractured. The right cornua of the Hyoid bone was also fractured. The brain was congested; the thorax had extensive burns in the upper region. There was a contused area measuring 5 cm. X 4 cm. on the side of th fracture. On the right side of the neck there was clotted blood in an area of 4 cm. X 3 cm. and the muscles at that place were lacerated. The larynx and trachea and both the lungs were all congested and they contained dark fluid blood. The inner layers of the right carotid artery was congested. The bladder was empty. The Medical Officer is of the opinion that death was due to strangulation and that the fractures on the body were ante-mortem. His report is marked as Ext. Ka-1. In the cross-examination, the Medical Officer has stated that the deceased could have died on 12.10.1971 between 7.00 a.m. and 8.00 a.m. in the morning, which he has clarified in his re-examination stating that this opinion is subject to a margin of 2 to 4 hours on either side. He gave a supplementary report, stating that the fractures of the bones were ante-mortem but the burns were-post-mortem. The supplementary report is marked as Ext. Ka-2. The report of the Chemical Examiner (Ext. Ka-38) revealed traces of barbiturates in the portions of the viscera of the deceased.

33) was laid.

The respondent denied his complicity with the offence in question and gave a lengthy statement. According to him, he was having cordial relationship with his wife and he did not cause the death of his wife or he sprinkled kerosene on her dead body. On the early morning of the date of the occurrence he, leaving his wife in the kitchen, went outside to examine a patient accompanied by one Jageshwar (PW-9) and returned only at about 7.45 or 8 a.m. and found his wife lying dead. He further adds that he immediately informed the Superintendent of Police (PW-3) about this tragic incident.