PEDDA NARAYANA Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellants A-1 to A-3 have been convicted under Sec. 302 read with Section 34 I.P.C. as also under S. 148 1.P.C. They are also convicted under S. 364 read with S. 34 I.P.C. A-1 to A-3 have been sentenced to imprisonment for life under S. 302 read with Section 34 and A-4 has been awarded the same sentence under S. 302 read with S. 149 I.P.C. Under Section 364 red with S. 34 the four appellants have been awarded five years rigorous imprisonment each. In view of the sentences passed, no separate sentence was imposed under Sections 147 and 148 I.P.C. The accused had been acquitted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Anantpur, in the State of Andhra Pradesh. On appeal against acquittal filed by the State before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh the appeal was allowed and the appellants A-l to A-4 were convicted and sentenced as mentioned above. Against these convictions, the present appellant have preferred this to this Court. As the High Court had awarded the sentence of life imprisonment after reversing the order of acquittal passed by the Additional Sessions Judge the appeal to the Supreme Court lies even on facts and as a matter of right under Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction)Act, 1970.

(2.) The prosecution case may conveniently be divided into four separate parts - Part-I constitutes the immediate motive for the murder of the deceased; Part II relates to the visit of the deceased to Anantpur where he was shadowed and threatened and forms the genesis of the occurrence; Part III consists of the actual murderous assault on the deceased resulting in his death and the last part- Part IV-relates to the recovery of the dead body three days after the occurrence. This is rather an unfortunate case where the appellants sought to hit upon a pre-conceived plan to do away with the life of the deceased animated by rancour and hatred resulting from the act of the deceased in embroiling the accused in a litigation over a monetary transaction.

(3.) In order to understand the case put forward by the prosecution it may be necessary to give briefly a re'sume'of the four stages of the prosecution case.