- (1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad dated 28 th March, 2007, confirming the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the learned Third Additional Sessions Judge, Ranga Reddy District at L.B. Nagar on 22 nd January, 2007. Facts in Brief
(2.) One Shri Baldevraj Seth was working as Chief Track Engineer, South Central Railway. He was living in Bungalow No.100, Railways Officer s Colony, South Lalaguda of Secunderabad, the official residence allotted to him along with his family members, i.e., his wife, Prabha Seth, son, Master Rishab Seth and daughter Kanika Seth. Accused Chandra Bhushan Upadhyay (Accused No.1) was working as office peon in South Central Railways, Secunderabad and was attached to the bungalow of Shri Baldevraj Seth for the last 7 years. Accused No.1 was married in the year 1997 and was residing in the servant quarters of the said bungalow. In fact, he had been given two servant quarters. Accused No.1 was arrogant, evasive and in the habit of revolting against Smt. Prabha Seth who was a strict person and demanded better performance of duties by accused No.1. The wife of accused No.1, on the occasion of dussehra festival, went to her native place in Bihar, to which all the accused belong. After her departure, accused No.1 became more arrogant. Nearly a week before the occurrence, Smt. Prabha Seth had scolded accused No.1 for his shabby looks and had asked him to have a haircut. This aggravated the grudge of accused No.1 towards her. On the very next day, accused No.1 met his elder brother s son, Munna Kumar Upadhyay (Accused No.2), his brother-in-law, Maheshwar Upadhyay (Accused No.4) and their friend, Monu Singh (Accused No.3). As already noticed, all of them belong to the same village in the State of Bihar. Accused No.3 was working in Bharat Steels. Because of the serious grudge of accused No.1 towards Smt. Prabha Seth, they all planned to kill the entire family of Shri Baldevraj Seth and to decamp with the gold ornaments, etc.
(3.) In furtherance to their plan, accused No.1 is stated to have purchased two knives from a road side hawker in the market. He also told Accused Nos.2 to 4 to come to the bungalow in the morning of the next Monday to execute their plan. On 17 th March, 2003, at about 9.30 a.m., Baldevraj Seth left for his office. At about 10 a.m., accused No.2 to 4 came to the entrance of the bungalow, not permitting their entry from the main gate, accused No.1 took them to the bathroom in the back varandah and closed the door. Accused No.1 closed all the doors from inside. He did not permit the washerwoman to come inside the house and gave her clothes from outside. When the maid servants who used to come to the house everyday to clean the house, came at their respective times, they were sent back by accused No.1 on the pretext that Smt. Prabha Seth wanted the house to be cleaned with acid and phenyl and therefore, they should come on another day. A carpenter, Janagama Maheshwar, PW23 had also come to the premises for fixing some poster beds. However, accused No.1 did not permit him to come into the house and when the carpenter insisted on completing the work, accused No.1 told him that Smt. Prabha Seth was not well and does not want to be disturbed. At about 10.30 a.m., Smt. Prabha Seth went into the bathroom. ACCUSED NO.1 went to the room of Master Rishab, who was watching the television, and on the pretext of showing him something, called him to another bathroom. When Rishab reached the bathroom, accused Nos.2 to 4 held the boy while accused No.1 cut his throat, as a result of which he died instantaneously. His body was kept in the bathroom itself. Thereafter when Smt. Prabha Seth came out of the bathroom, accused No.1 immediately attacked her and accused No.3, Monu Singh, opened fire on her with a countrymade pistol. When she was trying to get free from the grip of accused No.1, there was a scuffle and because of the resultant misfire, accused No.3 himself received injury on his leg. Then, accused No.1, with the knife, succeeded in cutting the throat of Smt. Prabha Seth. Thereafter, the accused shifted her body also to the bathroom. Accused No.1 cleaned the blood stains from the room and watched for Kanika Seth, daughter of Baldevraj Seth, to arrive. She arrived at 11.45 a.m. from the school. When she pressed the call button, accused No.1 directed her to enter from the back door. The moment she stepped in, accused Nos.2 and 4 held her and accused No.1 cut her throat with a knife, as a result of which she collapsed. Her body was then shifted to the bathroom. After killing these three members of the family, they ran towards the bedroom, opened the almirah, took gold ornaments like necklace, chains, rings, wrist watch and net cash of Rs.44,560/-, which they distributed among themselves.;