1. The appellant (hereinafter referred to as 'accused' for the sake of convenience) has preferred this appeal challenging the Judgment and Order dated 22/06/2007 passed by the Ad-hoc Additional Sessions Judge-1, Baramati, District Pune, in Sessions Case No. 66 of 2004.
2. The accused was tried for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 201, 376, 445, 457 and 404 of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC').
3. The brief facts of the prosecution case are as follows:-
A) Deceased Manisha Ramchandra Karnale was the resident of Sangli. She had completed her graduation in BE (Electronics and Telecommunication). In the year 2003, she accepted the job in a company named Aanama Energies Pvt. Ltd., Pune. She was required to visit sites as part of her job. The employer of Manisha had taken job to install machinery of Parekh Food, Kurkumbh. Hence she was directed to join the work at Parekh Food, Kurkumbh, on 16/12/2003. Ajay Dumbre, Vikas Kattimani, Rakesh Jaiswal and Rakesh Supekar were the colleagues of Manisha. They were also directed to visit Parekh Food at Kurkumbh. Accordingly, they had resumed their duty on 15/12/2003. While working at Kurkumbh, Ajay Dumbre and his colleagues were staying at Hotel Neelam Palace at Baramati. He had changed the hotel and booked 3 rooms in Hotel Amardeep at Baramati. Deceased Manisha joined Ajay Dumbre and others on 16/12/2003. In the evening of 16/12/2003, Manisha and her colleagues came to Hotel Amardeep at Baramati. They had booked Room Nos. 206, 207 and 208 in the said hotel. Manisha occupied room No. 207. Rakesh Supekar and Vikas Kattimani occupied Room No. 206. Ajay Dumbre and Rakesh Jaiswal occupied Room No. 208. From 16/12/2003 till 19/12/2003, Manisha and her colleagues used to leave Hotel Amardeep in the morning and used to return in the evening.
B) On 19/12/2003, deceased Manisha returned to Hotel Amardeep along with her colleagues at about 8.30 p.m. In the same night, Rakesh Supekar and Vikas Kattimani changed their room from Room No. 206 to Room No. 212 as TV and telephone of the said room was out of order.
C) After arrival in the hotel, Ajay Dumbre ordered dinner for 4 persons in Room No. 208. Thereafter, he consumed liquor. In the same evening, there was a party of Trainee Pilots on the lawn of the hotel. Ramesh Supekar, Ajay Dumbre, Vikas Kattimani and Rakesh Jaiswal were watching the party from the window of Room No. 208 and they were chitchatting. In the same night at about 11.30 p.m., Ajay Dumbre and Rakesh Jaiswal took their dinner. However, Rakesh Supekar did not take the meal. After dinner, the said 4 persons decided to have Paan, but due to late hours, they returned to their rooms and went to bed. Deceased Manisha took her dinner in the room. At about 12.45 in the midnight, Manisha asked the Manager on duty to connect a call to one cellphone. Accordingly, Manager gave call on the said cellphone number and Manisha had a conversation on the said number from her room. In the midnight at about 1.45 a.m., one customer came to the hotel. He was allotted Room No. 206 which was vacated by Rakesh Supekar and Vikas Kattimani.
D) On 20/12/2003 in the morning, Ajay Dumbre and his colleagues got ready and they decided to leave the hotel and return to Pune. Accordingly, Ajay Dumbre came to reception counter and asked Manager Shrinivas Kadam to prepare the bill. Ajay Dumbre made payment on behalf of the company. A........