J.S. SEKHON, J.

(1.) The appellant has directed this appeal from the Jail against the judgment passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kamal, dated 6-6-87 whereby that he was convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for the murder of his brother Dalip Singh and sentenced under imprisonment of life.

(2.) In brief the facts are that Anoop Singh appellant alongwith his brother Dalip Singh deceased used to reside in a house in the area of village Sambhi. They used to quarrel with each other. On November 10, 1986, at about 7 p.m. both of them were quarrelling in front of the shop of Billu ]hinwar on the demand of Rs. 100/- by Anoop Singh accused from Dalip Singh deceased and refusal of the latter and they were pacified by Charan Singh P.W. 11 and Gurdial Singh. On the next morning at about 8 a.m. Anoop Singh accused approached Charan Singh P.W. 11 at his house and confessed having killed his brother Dalip Singh during the preceding night while consuming liquor and eating chicken, due to the altercation of the previous evening. He further stated that he picked up a brick bat lying nearby and dealt two blows with the same on the head of Dalip Singh and that thereafter he picked up a sota Ex. P. 4 lying nearby and gave a blow with it on the hand of Dalip Singh. The mother of the accused had also arrived at the house of Charan Singh P.W. by then. Thereafter Charan Singh went to the house of Dalip Singh deceased and found his dead body lying on a cot. He deputed Kanta Ram chowkidar to safeguard the dead body and rushed to Police Post, Nilokheri on a motor cycle where he lodged report Ex. P.L. with A.S.I. Parkash Chand P.W. 13 at 10-40 a.m. and on its basis formal First Information Report Ex. PL/2 was recorded at Police Station, Butana, at 11 a.m. by S.I. Narpat Singh. A case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the accused A.S.I. Prakash Chand along with other police officials and Charan Singh P.W. then arrived at the spot. He prepared the inquest report Ex. P.B. of the dead body. He also seized blood stained earth from underneath the cot on which the dead body of Dalip Singh lay, besides some blood stained dry stalks of paddy from the cot. He also prepared the visual site plan Ex. P.O besides recording the statements of the witnesses. S.I. Narpat Singh P.W.14 arrived at about 2-35 p.m. at the spot and took over the investigation from him. On the same evening at 4.30 p.m. Surjit Singh and Sharam Singh witnesses produced the accused before the Sub Inspector near the culvert in the area of village Ramana Ramni. The accused was arrested in this case. On interrogation the accused in pursuance of his disclosure area of village Ramana Ramni. The accused was arrested in this case. On interrogation the accused in pursuance of his disclosure statement got recovered one piece of brick Ex. P.3 and danda Ex. P. 4 from a heap of dung cakes lying inside his house. These were wrapped in two different sealed parcels and taken into possession.

(3.) The autopsy on the dead body Dalip Singh was conducted by Dr. Ravinder Kumar, P.W. 1 at 4.30 p.m. on 11-11-1986. He found five blunt weapon injuries on his person. Parietal bone was found fractured under injuries No5. This injury was individually found sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. This doctor also preserved the pieces of stomach, large intestine, liver, spleen, kidney, sample of blood and urine and sent the same for Chemical examination. The Chemical Examiner found the presence of alcohol in all these organs as well as in sample of blood and urine. The sealed parcels of the clothes of the deceased, of the earth and brick bat were also sent to the Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, who confirmed the presence of human blood on all these articles. After completion of investigation the accused was arraigned for trial on such like allegations for the murder of his brother Dalip Singh.

(4.) The Trial Court believing the evidence of Charan Singh P.W.11 regarding, the extra judicial confession of the accused coupled with the medical evidence, besides the presence of human blood on the brick bat convicted and sentenced the appellant as referred to above by discarding his plea of simple denial and false implication and the evidence of his mother Saro Kaur D.W.1 to the effect that her son Dalip Singh was murdered by some unknown person during the night.

(5.) Though this appeal was filed by the accused from the Jail but subsequently Mr. Inderjit Singh Kapur has put in appearance on his behalf but strange enough he has failed to turn up. Thus we have ourselves examined the entire record carefully with the assistance of Mr. Ram Avtar Singh, Additional Advocate General, Haryana.

(6.) Learned Additional Advocate General has laid much stress on the testimony of Charan Singh P.W. 11 contending that he being neighbour of the accused, the latter was expected to repose confidence in him and thus there was nothing improbable in the accused, having confessed his guilt before Charan Singh. It was further maintained that the confessional statement regarding the taking of liquor by the accused and the deceased during the night of murder is further corroborated from the evidence of Dr. Ravinder Kumar and the report of the Chemical Examiner who had confirmed the presence of alcohol in the internal viscera, blood and urine of the deceased. The law is well settled on the point that an accused person can be convicted on the basis of evidence of a confession before a private person provided the evidence of person alone and no corroboration is required by the witness before whom the accused had confessed to inspire the confidence of the Court. The decision of the Supreme Court in Darshan Lal v. State of Jammu and Kashmiri1 can be safely referred to in this regard In the circumstances of the present case it would not be safe to sustain the conviction of the accused on the sole testimony of Charan Singh P.W. 11 as in the case the accused had actually confessed before him of such a heinous crime like a murder he was expected either to take the accused to the Police Post or atleast sought the help of other respectables of the village in detaining him at the spot but strangely enough he has failed to do any of these things. Thus under these circumstances it is not acceptable that the accused who had indulged in the murder of his brother Dalip singh secretively during the darkness of the night would suddenly think on the next morning of taking Charan Singh in confidence. Charan Singh P.W. is neither a Panch nor Sarpanch or Lambardar of the village. It is noteworthy that the accused was produced before S.I. Narpat Singh on the same evening at 4.30 p.m. by Surjit Singh P.W. 10 and Sharam Singh but he had not confessed his guilt before them. This circumstance would also reflected adversely on the version of Charan Singh P.W. That the accused bad confessed before him having killed his brother. Thus the confession of the accused before Charan Singh is highly doubtful. The mere factum that the accused and the deceased bad taken liquor while taking dinner during the night or that they had consumed chicken is of no consequence especially when the accused admits in the grounds of appeal that be alongwith his brother Dalip Singh bad taken liquor but bad not given any injury to Dalip Singh and the medical evidence reveals that the murder took place 3/4 hours of last of consumption of food. The evidence of Dr. Ravinder Kumar P.W. 1 leaves no doubt that the death of Dalip Singh had taken place due to the head injury suffered with a blunt weapon as it has resulted in fracture of the parietal bone and blood was found in the cranial cavity and haematoma was found in the crebare. He also observed semi-digested food material in the stomach besides the presence of faecal matter in the large intestine and some urine in the urinary bladder. Under these circumstances his admission during cross-examination that the victim had died after 3 or 4 hours of consuming his last food appears to be well founded. If that is so then the alleged confession of the accused before Charan Singh P.W. that he has killed his brother Dalip Singh while taking liquor is not acceptable. Thus the medical evidence reflects adversely upon the testimony of Charan Singh P.W. about the accused having confessed before him.

(7.) It is noteworthy that the father of the accused was killed by Banta singh about 14/15 years but Banta Singh was acquitted in that case. It is alleged by the accused that he has been falsely implicated at the instance of aforesaid Banta Singh. The dead body of Dalip Singh was lying on a cot in the room of Dalip Singh provided with no shutter. During cross-examination Charan Singh P.W. admitted that Dalip Singh deceased was unmarried but Anoop singh accused was married. He further stated that the accused and the deceased some time used to reside separately and some time jointly and that the house of the accused is not fitted with any wooden planks. Surjat Singh P. W. has stated that the accused alongwith his wife and one daughter used to reside in the house. Thus no adverse inference can be drawn against the accused for not reporting the murder of his brother to the police on the next morning.

(8.) The only other evidence against the accused is in pursuance of his disclosure statement from the heap of dung cakes lying in his house. In this regard it is noteworthy that a brick hat being not a usual weapon of offence, there was no necessity for the accused to conceal it or to preserve as a prize possession at the risk of his involvement in a heinous crime like murder of his brother. Thus the possibility of this brick-bat being found near the dead body cannot be ruled out. Moreover, according to Surjit Singh P.W. the kotha from which the brick-bat was got recovered was lying open. Thus the recovery of the brick-bat at ithe instance of the accused is not acceptable being inherently improbable. Danda Ex. P. 4 was not found stained with blood. Thus it is a neutral piece of evidence.

(9.) For the foregoing reasons, the prosecution has failed to prove the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt and he is ordered to be acquitted of the charge of murder of his brother Dalip singh by accepting this appeal and setting aside the order of conviction and sentence passed by the Trial Court.