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(5) In short, the case of the prosecution is that: between 30.11.2011 to 03.12.2011, at Village Bhatgaon, within the ambit of Police Station Mungeli, accused-appellants herein, namely, Ravishankar (A-1), Umend Prasad Dhrutlahre (A-2), Dinesh Chandrakar (A-3) and Satyendra Kumar Patre (A-4), in furtherance CRA-194-2013, CRA-232-2013 & CRA-277-2013 of their common object and intention, entered into criminal conspiracy and committed murder of Dharmendra Satnami (deceased) by strangulation and, further, in order to screen themselves from said act of committing murder of Dharmendra Satnami (deceased), threw the dead-body of Dharmendra Satnami (deceased) in pond and, thereby, committed the above stated offences punishable under Sections 302, 201, 120-B & 34 of IPC. (6) The further case of the prosecution is that: on 02.12.2011, Ramavtar (PW-01), father of Dharmendra Satnami (deceased), lodged missing person report at Police Station Kunda, as his son- Dharmendra went missing, upon which extensive search was made; during the course of said search and on the basis of suspicion, interrogation was made from the accused-appellants herein, wherein it was revealed that accused-appellants herein committed murder of Dharmendra Santnami at Bhatgaon River Road and threw his dead-body in the pond; thereafter, on 03.12.2011 at 10:00 AM, memorandum statement of accused- Ravishankar (A-1) was recorded vide Ex.P/10, similarly on the same day after half an hour, i.e., at 10:30 AM memorandum statement of accused Umend Prasad Dhrutlahre (A-2) was recorded vide Ex.P/11 and, on very same day, i.e. on 03.12.2011 at 11:00 AM, memorandum statement of accused- Dinesh Chandrakar (A-3) was also recorded vide Ex.P/ 12, and memorandum statement of Satyendra Kumar Patre (A-4) CRA-194-2013, CRA-232-2013 & CRA-277-2013 was recorded on 06.12.2011 at 07:00 PM vide Ex.P/17, whereby they admitted that: accused- Dinesh (A-3) instructed accused- Ravishankar (A-1) and Satyendra (A-4) to murder Dharmendra Satnami (deceased) for an amount of Rs.90,000/- and promised them to give Rs.90,000/- after completion of work i.e. murder of deceased- Dharmendra Satnami; as such, on the instruction of Dinesh (A-3), accused- Ravishankar (A-1) and Satyendra (A-4) alongwith accused- Umend (A-2) hatched criminal conspiracy to kill Dharmendra and prepared a plan and, according to said plan, they called Dharmendra (deceased) to Mungeli on 30.11.2011 to purchase silver; thereafter, accused- Satyendra (A-4) brought one motor-cycle of his relative, upon which he alongwith Umend (A-2) reached Datgaon situated within the ambit of P.S. Mungeli and accused- Ravishankar alongwith Dharmendra (deceased) reached Mungeli by means of bus, upon which, Satyendra (A-4) took them from Mungeli to Datgaon on motor-cycle, where they all visited the house of Sunil, who is brother-in-law (Jija) of Satyendra (A-4) and, in the night, after having their food, they all left the house of Sunil on the pretext of returning to their home; thereafter, when they reached near Bhatgaon, Ravishankar (A-1), Satyendra (A-4) and Umend (A-

2) committed murder of Dharmendra (deceased) by strangulation and, thereafter, in order to screen themseleves from the said act of committing murder of deceased- Dharmendra, they tightened the dead-body of deceased by means of his clothes, put it into a CRA-194-2013, CRA-232-2013 & CRA-277-2013 sack/gunny bag (bori) and thereafter by means of motor-cycle took the dead-body of deceased to the pond at Village Bhatgaon and threw there.

(7) Thereafter, at the instance of appellants, namely, Ravishankar (A-1) and Umend (A-2), on 03.12.2011 at about 16:05 hours (04:05 PM) and in presence Panch Witnesses of Narendra Kumar (PW-02) and Banshi (PW-04), the dead-body of Dharmendra Satnami was recovered from the pond of Bhatgaon and 'panchnama' (Ex.P/01) to that effect was prepared and identification of dead-body of deceased was also conducted vide Ex.P/02; thereafter, dehati marg. intimation (Ex.P/13), dehati nalishi (Ex.P/15) and FIR (Ex.P/33) were registered by the police; spot maps were prepared vide Ex.P/03 to P/05 and inquest proceedings were conducted vide Ex.P/06 and dead-body of deceased- Dharmendra was sent for postmortem examination, wherein Dr. Sudesh Ratre (PW-09), who conducted the postmortem of the dead-body of the deceased- Dharmendra, opined that the cause of death of deceased- Dharmendra is asphyxia due to strangulation and nature of death is homicidal in nature vide postmortem report (Ex.P/22); pursuant to memorandum statement of appellant- Satyendra (A-4), a mobile phone and motor-cycle were seized vide seizure memos (Ex.P/18 & P/19); further, from the place of occurrence/spot, leaves and soil alongwith full-pant, inner-wear (Baniyan), towel (gamcha) and wire CRA-194-2013, CRA-232-2013 & CRA-277-2013 from the dead-body of the deceased were seized vide Ex.P/09; thereafter, aforesaid seized articles were sent for FSL examination and, as per FSL report (Ex.C1), on the leaves recovered from the spot and on the inner-wear (Baniyan), towel (gamcha) and wire, recovered from the dead-body of the deceased, blood has been found, however, on the full-pant recovered from the dead-body of the deceased and on the seat-cover of the motor-cycle, seized pursuant to memorandum statement of appellant- Satyendra (A-4), no blood was found. Thereafter, statements of witnesses were recorded under Section 161 of CrPC and after due investigation, the police filed charge-sheet against the appellants in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mungeli (Chhattisgarh) and, thereafter, the case was committed to the Court of Sessions for trial in accordance with law. The appellants/accused persons abjured their guilt and entered into defence stating that they have not committed the offence and have been falsely implicated in the case.

(14) We have heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions made herein-above and went through the original records of the learned trial Court with utmost circumspection.

(15) The first and foremost question is as to whether the death of the deceased was homicidal in nature, which the learned trial Court has recorded in affirmative by taking into consideration the oral and documentary evidence available on record and particularly considering the postmortem report (Ex.P/22), wherein it has been opined that the cause of death of deceased- Dharmendra Satnami CRA-194-2013, CRA-232-2013 & CRA-277-2013 is asphyxia due to strangulation and nature of death is homicidal in nature and the statement of Dr. Sudesh Ratre (PW-09), who has conducted the postmortem of the dead-body of the deceased. Taking into consideration the postmortem report (Ex.P/17) and the statements of medical experts examined, we are of the considered opinion that the learned trial Court is absolutely justified in holding that the death of deceased- Dharmendra Satnami was homicidal in nature, as the same is correct finding of fact based on evidence available on record and same is neither perverse nor contrary to the record. Accordingly, we hereby affirm the said finding. Even otherwise finding of homicidal death has not been questioned mainly on behalf of appellants herein.

(19) The memorandum statement of Ravishankar (A-1) has been recorded by the Investigating Officer on 03.12.2011 at 10:00 AM, whereby it has been stated that: he alongwith Satyendra Kumar (A-

4) contracted with appellant-Dinesh (A-3) for committing murder of Dharmendra Satnami (deceased) to the tune of Rs.90,000/-, which money, Dinesh (A-4) promised to give them after his murder; thereafter, appellants, namely, Ravishankar (A-1), Umend Prasad 4 (2009) 14 SCC 582 CRA-194-2013, CRA-232-2013 & CRA-277-2013 (A-2) & Satyendra Kumar (A-4), at the instance of Dinesh (A-3), hatched criminal conspiracy and prepared a plan to commit murder of deceased- Dharmendra; thereafter, in furtherance of said plan, they called deceased- Dharmendra to Mungeli on the pretext of purchasing silver on 30.11.2011; thereafter, accused- Umend Prasad (A-2) and Satyendra Kumar (A-4) reached Datgaon on motor-cycle and visited the house of Sunil [relative of Satyendra Kumar (A-4)] and accused- Ravishankar (A-1) alongwith deceased- Dharmendra reached Mungeli by bus, upon which, Satyendra Kumar (A-4) took them from Mungeli and taken to Sunil's house at Datgaon by motor-cycle; in the night, after having their food, they all left the house of Sunil claiming to be returning home and, thereafter, Ravishankar (A-1), Umend Prasad (A-2) & Satyendra Kumar (A-4) committed murder of Dharmendra (deceased) by strangulation with the help of wire and gamcha (towel) and took the dead-body into a sack/gunny bag (bori) and threw it into the pond of Datgaon. (20) Thereafter, immediately after half an hour, on 03.12.2011 at 10:30 AM, memorandum statement of accused- Umend Prasad (A-