- (1.) This batch of appeals is preferred by the accused against the common judgment and order dated 23rd March 2004 in Criminal Appeal Nos. 954 and 956 of 2008. Criminal Appeal Nos. 1521-1522 of 2011 are filed by the Accused No. 1; Criminal Appeal Nos. 1102-1103 of 2011 are filed by the accused Nos. 2-7; Criminal Appeal Nos. 1100-1101 of 2011 by the accused Nos. 8-12; Criminal Appeal Nos. 1093-1094 of 2011 are filed by the Accused No. 2, Konduru Nagure Reddy. Since they arise out of the same incident/judgment they have been taken up together for disposal.
(2.) The crime in question is the murder of Mudi Parandhami Reddy in an agricultural field on 25.11.96 in Mettu village in Andhra Pradesh. According to the prosecution, the deceased was a leader of the Congress party in the area. He was suspected by the Accused No. 1 Puchalapalli Parandhami Reddy, a leader of the Telugu Desam Party, as being responsible for the murder of his father on 25.3.92. Land disputes also existed between Rajagopal Reddy (L.W. 2), his brother Pelluru Murali Reddy (P.W. 3) on one side and A-19, Pelluru Venu Reddy about the division of survey No. 116. Litigation was pending between them in a Court. Therefore, Pelluru Murali Reddy (P.W. 3) and Rajagopal Reddy (L.W. 2) sought the mediation of the deceased Mudi Parandhami Reddy and it was decided that the deceased would mediate on 25.11.96.
(3.) On 24.11.96, Pelluru Murali Reddy (P.W. 3) and his brother Rajagopal engaged farm labour i.e. P.W. 1 (Vakati Ramanaiah), P.W. 2 (Rayapati Venkata Ramanaiah), P.W. 4 (Bandila Mutyhyalaiah) and P.W. 5 (Rayapati Kotaiah) for ploughing the land. On the next day, i.e. 25.11.1996 the deceased had come to the land and sat on a ridge in the field while the ploughing was going on by the labourers. Around 8.00 a.m., A-19, Pelluru Venu Reddy and A-20, Pelluru Sreedhar Reddy came there and asked that the ploughing be stopped because there was a dispute over the land. Mudi Parandhami intervened and said that the dispute will be resolved later and asked the ploughing to go on. At this the accused went away. Around 10 a.m. the accused party came back. The accused no.1 hacked Mudi Parandhami with a battle-axe on the head. After that A-2, Konduru Nagure Reddy came and when Pelluru Murali Reddy (P.W. 3) intervened, A-2, Konduru Nagure Reddy, hit him with the blunt edge of the chilla kathi. Then A-3, Konduru Dayakar Reddy, hacked Mudi Parandhami with an axe on his head. When Pelluru Murali Reddy (P.W. 3) intervened, A-3, Konduru Dayakar Reddy, hit him on the left hand. After this A-4, Konduru Ramachandra Reddy, came and stabbed Mudi Parandhami on his left shoulder. A-5, Putchalapalli Ramamohan Reddy, then stabbed mudi Parandhami on his chest. A-6, Putchalapalli Srinivasulu Reddy, then stabbed Mudi Parandhami with a spear on the left side of his back. Thereafter A-7, Putchalapalli Niranjan Reddy, stabbed Mudi Parandhami on his back. Then A-8, Avula Sudhakar, stabbed Mudi Parandhami on his left ear and his abdomen. Thereafter A-9, Putchalapalli Subrahmanyam Reddy, stabbed Mudi parandhami on the left side of the chest. A-10, Yellasiri Masthan, then hit Mudi Parandhami with a stick on the left temple. A-12, Chennur Venkataramana Reddy, gave a blow on the head to Mudi Parandhami. When Rajagopal Reddy Rajagopal Reddy (L.W. 2), intervened A- 12, Chennur Venkataramana Reddy hacked him on the head with the same battle axe and felled him. In the incident Mudi Parandhami Reddy died. P.W. 3 (Murali Reddy) L.W. 2 (P. Raja Gopal Reddy) and L.W. 3 (Pelluru Karunakar Reddy) were injured.;