Bilaspur. The High Court has rejected the appeal of the accused of murdering her husband along with her lover. When the daughter tried to inform her uncle about her father’s disappearance, the mother stopped her. During the hearing of the case, the court considered this statement of the daughter as an important link in the circumstantial evidence. The case was heard in the DB of Justice Gautam Bhaduri and Justice Sanjay S Agarwal, where the appeal of the accused was rejected and the life sentence awarded by the Sessions Court was kept intact.
Neera Sahu, a resident of Dhaneli, Raipur, lodged a report at Siltara police station on 5 October 2017 that her husband Khubchand Sahu had left the house at 10 pm on 27 September 2017 and he is a heavy drinker. Even after searching the family, if he was not found, he was asked to write a report. Police registered the case. During investigation, the police got information that the reporting wife had an illicit relationship with Bhojram Sahu of the village. The husband used to oppose this and there used to be a dispute between the husband and wife on this issue. On the intervening night of 27-28 September 2017, Bhojram Sahu went to the village’s house with a minor. There the minor and his wife caught hold of Khubchand’s leg and hand and the accused Bhojram killed him by hitting him several times on the head with a hammer.
To destroy the evidence, the accused packed the body in a bag, placed heavy stones in it and threw it in the well. The mattress and cot on which the deceased slept were taken away and thrown into the river. On the spot of the accused, the police recovered the dead body from the well, the hammer used in the murder, blood stained clothes and recorded the statements of the witnesses and presented the challan in the court. The Sessions Court has sentenced the accused to life imprisonment. He appealed against this in the High Court, in which it was said that the accused were sentenced on the basis of circumstantial evidence, no one can be punished merely on suspicion. The government lawyer opposed this and said that on his instructions the police have seized the dead body from the well, the hammer used in the murder, blood stained saree and T-shirt.
There was daily talk between lover and wife
After the hearing, the court rejected the appeal of the accused. The court said that the principle of linking the circumstantial evidence should be considered. In this, when the deceased’s daughter Rani tried to tell her uncle about her father’s disappearance, the accused Neera stopped her. Only after being told by the accused, the police seized the blood stained saree kept in the cupboard. The mobile phone purchased by the accused Bhojram and Bhojram’s mobile phone was confiscated. The call records of the continuous conversations between the two and the testimony of Rani continuously receiving calls linked the links to the crime, hence the court sentenced her.
