minal Appeal No 245 of 1969
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated July 17 1969 of the Mysore High Court in Criminal Appeal No 111 of 1968 and Criminal Referred Case No 2 of 1968
K M K Nair for the appellant
section section Javali and section P Nayar for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Dua J
The appellant was convicted by the Sessions Judge Shimoga under section 302 IPC for the murder of one Govindappa a village postman and was awarded capital sentence
He was also held guilty of an offence under section 201 IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years
The High Court of Mysore confirmed the conviction and sentence under section 302 IPC It also upheld his conviction under section 201 IPC but set aside the sentence on this count observing that when a person is convicted both under section 302 and section 201 IPC it is undesirable to pass separate sentence for both offences
In this appeal with special leave the appellant challenges his conviction and sentence under section 302 IPC The appellant was tried along with Laxmamma accused No 2 wife of the deceased Govindappa and her mother Gangamma accused No 3 wife of late Mylappa
The two women were charged with abetment of murder and were acquitted by the trial court
We are not concerned with them in this appeal
There is no eye witness in the case and the courts below have accepted the prosecution story on circumstantial evidence
The question before us is whether the circumstantial evidence accepted by the courts below establishes the murder of the deceased by the appellant beyond reasonable doubt
The prosecution story may now be stated
The deceased Govindappa resident of Kommanal village in Shimoga Taluk worked as Extra Departmental Delivery Agent in the postal department
He was attached to the post 217 office at Kommanal and was in common parlance called a postman
G Sangaiah PW 1 resident of village Abbalagere worked as an Assistant School Teacher in Kommanal
The distance between the two villages is 1 34 miles
PW 1 also worked as Branch Postmaster in Kommanal and was called Extra Departmental Postmaster
According to him the duties of the deceased were to bring the postal bags from the MMS Bus on the main road in the morning at about 830 am and after the bags were opened by PW 1 to deliver the postal articles to their respective addressees
At about 430 pm he would return to the post office to take the postal bags to the Mail Service Bus
Six villages were attached to this post office
The deceased used to deliver postal articles in two groups of three villages each on alternate days
On July 21 1967 at about 10 am the deceased received the postal articles from PW 1 for delivering them to the addressees in villages Kittadal Kunchenhalli and Bikkonahalli
The articles to be delivered included two registered letters addressed to Krishna Naika and Halanaika of Kittadal
At about 330 pm the deceased returned and told PW 1 that the addressees having gone to their fields were not in the village and that he would again try to deliver the registered articles to them
The deceased took the postal bags from the post office for delivery to the Mail bus
He did not return to duty thereafter
As the deceased had been in the service of the post office for nearly 32 years PW 1 did not suspect his bona fides
On July 22 1967 PW I went to the house of the deceased but did not find him there
Thinking that the deceased might have been unavoidably held up somewhere PW 1 in addition to his own duties performed those of the deceased as well on that day
On July 23 PW 1 went to village KittadaJ to inquire about the delivery of the registered articles to the addressees
There he learnt from Krishna Naika PW 15 that on July 21 1967 the deceased had delivered to him
the registered article at about 6 pm PW 15 on being questioned by the court gave the time of delivery to be about 4 pm
But this differences as to time in the opinion of the trial court was due to the fact that the witness had no precise idea of time
After having waited for another day on July 24 1967 PW I reported to the Postal Inspector Shimoga Circle about the disappearance of the deceased exhibit P 1 is this report
PW I informed the Postal Inspector of the steps taken by him in his search for the deceased
Those steps included the inquiries made by him from the addressees of the registered letters which had been delivered by the deceased
PW I had looked at those registered letters and left instructions for their production when required
It was further reported that the receipts L11 Sup
CI 15 218 pertaining to the delivery of RL No 456Udipi and RL No 825Udipi and the visit book had not been returned by the deceased to the post office
A request was made by PW 1 for the appointment of someone in place of the deceased so that the registered articles received on the 24th and 25th July 1967 be delivered to their respective addressees
The Postal Inspector was asked to visit Kommanal for making the necessary arrangements
This report reached the Inspector SW Pawar PW 2 on July 26 1967 and he visited Kommanal on July 27 1967
There he collected four Panchayatdars and examined Laxmamma the wife of the deceased
The same day he submitted his report exhibit P 3 to the Sub Inspector of  Police Kasaba Police Station Shimoga attaching with it a copy of the report of PW 1 and also a copy of the statement of LaxmaMma
in this report all the relevant facts were stated
The important thing to be noted about this report is that according to it the deceased had two keys of letters boxes fixed at Kunchenhalli and Somanakoppa
The duplicate keys of these locks were however available with PW 1
This report was sent because according to PW 2 neither the wife of the deceased nor anyone else from the village had reported to the police about the disappearance of the de ceased While investigation into the fact of disappearance of the deceased pursuant to this report was going on it appears that Bheema Naika PW 3 resident of Kommanal while grazing his cattle near Ayanoor forest sensed some foul smell from a spot near Korakalu 
On going closer he saw what appeared to him to be a human skeleton with Khakhi half pants khakhi shirt and belt and a pair of chappals
He got frightened and reported to the village patel about what he had seen
As it was late in the evening the patel did not go to the spot that day
The following morning August 4 1967 PW 3 took the pate Shankargowda PW 12 and some others to the spot and showed them what he had seen
The pate then reported the matter to the Sub Inspector of Police Shimoga Taluk exhibit P 11 Investigation then appears to have started for establishing the identity of the dead body the cause of his death and if his death was considered to be homicidal who was the offender
As a result of the investigation the three accused persons as observed earlier were sent up for trial
The three questions requiring consideration by us relate to the identity of the dead body represented to be of the deceased the cause of the death and whether the appellant has committed the murder
In so far as the question of identity is concerned there can hardly be any doubt that the skeleton was that of the deceased
The Khakhi shirt exhibit MO 1 and the half pant exhibit MO 2 have 219 been identified by PW 1 as the uniform given to the deceased  The visit book exhibit MO 5 is also proved by PW 1 to have been delivered to the deceased The two postal acknowledgments entrusted to the deceased with the registered articles exhibit MO 6 and the two duplicate keys Exs MO 3 of the locks of the post boxes at Kunchenhalli and Somanakoppa have also been identified and proved by PW 1
All these articles were recovered from near the dead body
This evidence leaves little doubt that the skeleton was of the deceased
Some doubt was sought to be created on the question whether the bones found at the spot were those of a human body
But on this point the testimony of Dr Shambulingaswami Assistant Surgeon Mccann Hospital Shimoga PW 26 is clear and it establishes beyond doubt that the bones found were those of a human being
For the present we are leaving out of consideration the evidence of Ganga PW 4 and the oral confession made by the appellant to this witness
We will deal with that witness a little later Turning to the question whether the deceased died a natural death or his death was homicidal Dr Ramu Associate Professor of Forensic Medicine  Bangalore Medical College was required to examine this question and the skeleton concerned was forwarded to him
His report exhibit P 20 records
the following opinion I am of opinion that a all the bones sent are of  human origin and appear to belong to the same individual b the bones belong to a male c the age of the person is between 25 35 years d the height of the person is about 5 feet 6 inches one inch e the cause of death is due to external violence f the time since death is about 4 8 weeks from the date of examination
 This report is dated August 30 1967
When Dr Ramu appeared as a witness he was cross examined by the counsel for the appellant
A suggestion was thrown that the dead body might have been bitten by wild animals
This suggestion was denied by the witness who replied that the gnawing by the wild animals would result in irregular surface which was not the case in respect of the bones sent to him
The witness also refuted the suggestion that the base of the skull in question could have been fractured by a violent fall
The fracture of bones caused by wild animals trampling on them was also stated by the witness to be different in 220 nature from the fractures which were found in the present case
The doctor was clearly of opinion that the injuries caused to the bones sent to him for examination were ante mortem and not postmortem
On being questioned by the court the doctor replied that at least two blows must have been given to the deceased one on the nape of the neck and the other on the left cheek
He further stated that the spinal cord must have been cut and completely severed because the two pieces MO 18 and MO 18 a were completely severed and this result could not have come about without the spinal cord being cut
The injury on the base of the skull he continued must have been the result of a very hard blow and this was by itself sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death
The man whose bones were sent to him must according to the doctor have been brutally attacked with a sharp cutting instrument
This evidence in our opinion convincingly establishes that the deceased was the victim of grievous assault as a result of which he died and the courts below were quite right in so concluding
We now come to the question whether it was the appellant who committed the murder
It is in evidence that the deceased was last seen in the company of the appellant at about 430 pm when the deceased had gone to deliver the mail bags to the bus
At about 330 pm according to PW 1 the deceased had gone to the post office and taken the postal bags to be delivered to the Mail Bus MMS Bus Service
He had also told the witness that he would again try to contact Krishna Naika and Halla Naika of Kittadal for delivering the registered articles
Chennabasappa PW 16 has also deposed that he saw Govindappa and the appellant delivering the mail bags to the bus after they had taken coffee in the hotel near the bus stop that evening
PW 9 the brother of the appellant who was also at the bus stop that evening saw the deceased and the appellant travelling in the same bus
Gangamma PW 8 the wife of the brother of the deceased who lives in a portion of the same house in which the deceased lived
has stated that she saw the deceased on Friday evening at about 430 pm with the appellant going from their house towards the post office building
The appellant was at that time carrying an axe on his shoulder
The demeanor of this witness was described by the trial court as natural
Sulochana an eleven year old daughter of the deceased appeared as PW 10 and stated that on Friday the day her father disappeared at about 430 pm he left the house to deliver the mail bags
At about 5 pm the appellant took an axe from her mother and proceeded towards the Post office
At about 8 pm the appellant returned home
According to this witness four or five days earlier the appellant had suggested to the deceased to accompany him to the forest area for bringing 221 teak logs so as to be able to make some money
People of village Haramghatta required teak logs and the deceased according to the suggestion could earn at least Rs 151
The deceased first expressed his inability to spare time from his official duties but the suggestion could earn at least Rs 151 
The deceased first expresed his inability to spare time from his official duties but the suggestion having been repeated the deceased ultimately agreed
This witness though being only 1 1 years old was not administered oath created a favourable impression on the trial court as is obvious from the following note The witness gave her evidence without faltering or visible signs of hesitancy
She speaks clearly precisely and straight to the question
 The trial court also interrupted the witness in the middle of her testimony in order to satisfy itself by breaking the continuity of the story that she was not reproducing a tutored version
On going through her statement we are satisfied that she is a truthful witness and her evidence deserves to be accepted and was rightly accepted by the courts below
There is in our opinion cogent and trustworthy evidence
to support the conclusion of the courts below that the deceased was last seen with the appellant a short time before his disappearance
Having upheld this conclusion we may appropriately examine the appellant s explanation
He has merely denied by expressing his ignorance that the deceased had been last seen alive with him
In fact he has simply described as false all the material allegations including that of his acquaintance with Laxmamma and that he used to stay in Kommanal
This bare denial without any explanation is not wholly unimportant
This takes us to the motive for the appellant to get rid of the deceased
There can be little doubt on the evidence on the record that the appellant had developed close intimacy with the wife of the deceased
The evidence of Gangamma PW 8 wife of the brother of the deceased who it may recalled lives in one portion of the ancestral house owned by the two brothers is quite clear on the point
Laxmamma the wife of the deceased used to run her shop in the other half of the same house
PW 8 was therefore in a position to know about the appellant s frequent visits to that shop
According to her the appellant sometimes used to take his food in Laxmamma s house and also to sleep there
This was due to their intimacy
Though many customers used to come to that shop no one ever stayed on in the house except the appellant
PW 8 has also deposed that the deceased and his wife used to quarrel with each other and the deceased used to 222 protest against her feeding the appellant and neglecting him in the matter of food
To this Laxamma used to report that the deceased did not provide her with enough money for that purpose whereas the appellant did
The suggestion that her husband and the deceased had quarrelled over partition of a field was repudiated by her
The trial court was favourably impressed by the demeanor of this witness as well
PW 9 the brother of the deceased has also stated about the quarrels between the deceased and his wife
He has deposed  My brother and his wife A2 were often quarreling bitterly
That was after Ugadi of last year
lie used to complain to his wife that she was not cooking food at the proper time
A2 in turn used to reply that he was not supplying her with provision and therefore he could not expect her to cook food in time
He sometimes used to thrash A2
She would weep and sleep away
When my brother used to go away without food I used to invite him to take his food
Sometimes he used to take his food in my house
After the last Ugadi Thimma A1 s visit and stay in my brother s house increased
Al and A2 used to go together for work
They used to go to Nyamathi Shandy to fetch goods
Al used to carry the goods back to Komminal from Nyamathi
Two days prior to the disappearance of my brother there was a bitter quarrel between A2 and himself
During that quarrel Govindappa questioned A2 how Al remained under his roof and that she fed him and that by the time he returned there was nothing left for him
A2 replied that he earns and supplied the provi sions and therefore she was feeding him whereas he Govindappa did not supply the provisions and consequently she did not look after him
The quarrel resulted in severe beating of A2 by my brother
A2 never served him food
 From this evidence the motive on the part of the appellant to do away with the deceased is obvious
We now turn to the extra judicial confessions of the appellant and his conduct on the day following the disappearance of the deceased
Ganga PW 4 is a nephew of the appellant being the son of his elder brother
The appellant according to this witneSS had taken up a contract of uprooting plants and trees so as to render the land cultivable
This witness used to visit Laxmamma s shop when he was working at Kommanal and he 223 also knew the deceased
On Saturday following the day when the deceased had disappeared in the early hours of the morning a little before sunrise the appellant went to the house of the witness in Bodekanna colony near Kommannal and woke him up
As the witness began to tether his bullocks the appellant went to his father s house nearby
After a short while the appellant returned and told the witness that the previous evening he had gone to the field of one Mahadevappa and had lost his purse containing Rs 200 
The appellant desired the witness to accompany him to find the lost purse
On their way through the forest by the side of the hill they met one Sivappanavar Basappa PW 13 on whose enquiry as to what had brought them there so early the appellant replied that he had some work in the fallow land of Mahadevappa 
On reaching the Korakalu  which was about 2 12 ft
deep the witness saw the dead body of Govindappa
The dead body was lying flat on its back and the witness observed injuries on the neck face and chest of the deceased
He also saw near the dead body Khakhi shirt MO 1 Khakhi half pants MO 2 a pair of chappals MO 7 a plaster belt MO 8 and banian MO 10
The appellant then pulled the red waist thread MO 10 worn by the deceased and as he took it into his hands a pair of small keys MO 3 A were noticed by the witness
The appellant remarked that those were not the keys he wanted
So saying he threw away the thread the keys and a talisman MO 11 which was also found there
Directing the witness to keep a watch from a higher elevation the appellant cut some branches of the trees and after collecting some twigs covered the dead body with them
After picking up some papers the appellant and the witness started on return journey
After covering some distance the appellant threw away the papers in a bush
The appellant told the witness that he had killed the deceased with the sickle matchu given by the wife of the deceased and that the same had been thrown away by him in a bush
As they reached the main road the appellant warned the witness not to disclose to anyone what he had seen and learnt otherwise he was threatened with the same fate as the deceased had met
The trial court was not favourably impressed by the testimony of Ganga PW 4 though it felt convinced that on the day following the disappearance of the deceased he had knowledge both of the commission of the offence and of the place where the dead body was lying
That court did not rely _on his testimony in regard to the extra judicial confession because it was considered incredible
The High Court on appeal disagreed with the trial court in its appreciation of the evidence of PW 4
According to the High Court the evidence of PW 4 was corroborated by the evidence of PW 13 and PW 25
The extra judicial confession was 224 therefore held to be admissible and trust Worthy
Before us it was contended that the extra judicial confession said to have been made to PW 4 is inadmissible and in any event without corroboration in material particulars from independent source it is unsafe to act upon it
It was emphasised that PW 4 was at one stage of the investigation suspected of complicity in this murder and therefore he should be treated no better than an accomplice
In our opinion this criticism is not justified
An unambiguous confession if admissible in evidence and free from suspicion suggesting its falsity is a valuable piece of evidence which possesses a high probative force because it emanates directly from the person committing the offence
But in the process of proof of an alleged confession the court has to be satisfied that it is voluntary it does not appear to be the result of inducement threat or promise as contemplated by section 24 Indian Evidence Act and the surrounding circumstances do not indicate that it is inspired by some improperly or collateral consideration suggesting that it may not be true
For this purpose the court must scrutinise all the relevant factors such as the person to whom the confession is made the time and place of making it the circumstances in which it is made and finally the actual words
In the case in hand it is quite clear that PW 4 is not a person in authority
There can thus be no question of any inducement threat or promise rendering the confession irrelevant
Nor has any cogent reason  been suggested why the appellant should have made an untrue confession to PW 4 within 24 hours of the disappearance of the deceased
On the other hand the appellant appears to have been impelled by some inner urge to take the assistance of PW 4 his real nephew to go to the place of occurrence to see as to what had happened to the dead body of his victim
Such behaviour cannot be considered unnatural
The confession appears to us to be free from any taint which would throw suspicion on its voluntary character and it has a ring of truth in it
The fact that during the investigation PW 4 was suspected of being involved in the murder would also not cast any doubt on the voluntary character of the confession or on its true nature because it is the knowledge of PW 4 derived from this very confession which perhaps invited suspicion on him
We do not consider this to be a cogent ground for holding that PW 4 had any motive to concoct the story of confession
This confession is therefore admisible in evidence and being true deserves to be acted upon
The words used are quite clear and admit of no doubt of the appellant s guilt
And then though the evidence of PW 4 does not need any corroboration we find that corroboration in material particulars is forthcoming on the record
The existence of the dead body and all the other articles at the place where they were later found and the evidence of Basappa PW 13 which proves the visit of the 225 appellant and PW 4 to the spot on Saturday following the disappearance of the deceased furnish strong corroboration
The High Court was thus quite right in relying on the extra judicial confession made to PW 4
The confessions said to have been made to PW 31 and to Abdul Rahman PW 22 stand on a different footing
Both the courts below have not considered it safe to rely on these confessions and we do not find any sufficient reason for disagreeing with them
Reliance on behalf of the prosecution was also placed on the information given by the appellant which led to the discovery of the dead body and other articles found at the spot
It was contended that the information received from him related distinctly to the facts discovered and therefore the statement conveying the information was admissible in evidence under section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act
This information it was argued also lends support to the appellant s guilt
It appears to us that when PW 4 was suspected of complicity in this offence he would in all probability have disclosed to the police the existence of the dead body and the other articles at the place where they were actually found
Once a fact is discovered from other sources there can be no fresh discovery even if relevant information is extracted from the accused and courts have to be watchful against the ingenuity of the investigating officer in this respect so that the protection afforded by the wholesome provisions of sections 25 and 26 of the Indian Evi dence Act is not whittled down by mere manipulation of the record of case diary
It would in the circumstances be somewhat unsafe to rely on this information for proving the appellant s guilt
We are accordingly disinclined to take into consideration this statement
The trial court and the High Court have also been influenced by the fact that the appellant had absconded after September 1 1967 when the police got suspicious of his complicity in this offence
It is true that the appellant did make himself scarce with effect from September 1 1967 till he was arrested on September 5 1967 and this conduct is relevant under section 8 of
the Indian Evidence Act and might well be indicative to some extent of guilty mind
But this is not the only conclusion to which it must lead the court
Even innocent persons may when suspected of grave crimes be tempted to evade arrest such is the instinct of self preservation in an average human being
We are therefore not inclined to attach much significance to this conduct on the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case
In this case the appellant being a pauper was provided with counsel at State expense in the trial court
The entire prosecution case depends on circumstantial evidence and the dead body 226 was actually recovered in a decomposed state when it was not capable of identification
In view of these peculiar features we undertook to examine the evidence ourselves a course which this Court as a matter of settled practice does not ordinarily adopt
We are satisfied that the evidence on the record establishes the appellant s guilt beyond reasonable doubt and the courts below were quite right in convicting him
On the question of sentence also we do not find any cogent ground for interference
This appeal fails and is dismissed
YP Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The appellant was convicted of the offence under section 302 IPC Being a pauper he was defended by counsel at State expense
The entire evidence was circumstantial and the dead body when it was recovered was in a decomposed state and was incapable of identification
Therefore this Court examined the evidence afresh contrary to its settled practice and came to the conclusion that the evidence on record established the appellant s guilt beyond all reasonable doubt
With respect to three items of evidence namely 1 an extra judicial confession by the appellant to his nephew 2 the recovery of the dead body as a result of the appellant s statement and 3 the conduct of the appellant in absconding immediately after the police suspected his complicity in the crime HELD  1 An unambiguous confession if admissible in evidence and free from suspicion suggesting its falsity is a valuable piece of evidence
which possesses a high probative force because it emanates directly from the person committing the offence
The Court must however be satisfied that it is voluntary and was not the result of inducement threat or promise as contemplated by section 24 of the Evidence Act and that the surrounding circumstances do not indicate that it was inspired by improper or collateral considerations
For this purpose the court must scrutinise all the relevant factors such as the person to whom the confession is
made the time and place of making it the circumstances in which it was made and finally the actual words used
224 C In the present case the person to whom the extra judicial confession
was made was not a person in authority and there was no question of any inducement threat or promise
Nor has any cogent reason been suggested as to why the appellant should have made an untrue confession within 24 hours of the disappearance of the deceased
The appellant appears to have been impelled by some inner urge to take the assistance of his nephew to go to the place of occurrence and see what happened to the dead body Such behaviours cannot be considered unnatural
The confession is free from any taint which would throw suspicion on its voluntary character and it has a ring of truth in it
The fact that during the investigation the nephew was also suspected of being involved in the murder would also not cast any doubt on the voluntary character of the confession or on its true nature because it was his knowledge derived from the confession that invited suspicion on him
Further though the evidence of the nephew does not require corroboration the finding of the dead body and other articles and other evidence on record corroborate it in material particulars
Therefore the confession to the nephew is admissible in evidence and being true deserves to be acted upon
224 E H 2 When the nephew was suspected of complicity he would have in all probability disclosed to the police the existence of the dead body and 216 the other articles at the place where they were actually found
Therefore it would in the circumstances of the case be unsafe to rely upon the information given by the accused leading to the discovery of the dead body for proving his guilt
225 D F 3 Evidence of absconding is relevant as evidence of conduct under section 8 of the Evidence Act but the guilty mind of the accused is not the only conclusion that could be drawn by the Court because even innocent persons when suspected of grave crimes are tempted to evade arrest
225 G H