- (1.) The four appellants described as accused A-1, A-2, A-3 and A-4 faced trial along with three others for alleged commission of offences punishable under Sections 302, 120-B and 148 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 (for short 'the IPC'). The trial Court found the present appellants to be guilty of offence punishable under Section 302, IPC but not of the other two offences. Accused A-5 to A-7 were acquitted as the trial Court held evidence to be insufficient to hold them guilty. A-1 was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs. 2,000/- with default stipulation of six months. Matter was carried in appeal before the Andhra Pradesh High Court which by the impugned judgment held A-1 and A-4 guilty of offence punishable under Section 326, IPC and sentenced each to undergo RI for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- with default stipulation of four months. A-2 was found guilty of offence punishable under Section 302, IPC by affirming conviction made and sentence imposed by the trial Court. A-3 was convicted of offence punishable under Section 324, IPC and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- with default stipulation of two months imprisonment.
(2.) Prosecution version as unfolded during trial is as follows : All the accused assembled in the house of A-2 (Boorabathula Ramachandra Rao) at about 10.00 a.m. on 31-7-1993 and entered into a criminal conspiracy to Kill Gubballa Sambamurthy (hereinafter referred to as the 'deceased') on that day itself. Subsequently at 12.00 noon on the same day A-2 to A-7 assembled again in the house of one Chellibovina Venkata Narasamma (examined as PW-5) in West Kaza village and once again conspired to kill the deceased when he would be going to Palakol. A-2 brought knives in a bag and also informed the other accused persons that A-1 would join them at 3.00 p.m. at the scene of offence, and pursuant to their criminal conspiracy all the accused assembled with verukulu knives and formed themselves into an unlawful assembly at Palakol-Vardhanam road in the cattle shed of Allam Udayavarlu on the outskirts of Palakol on the same day at about 3.00 p.m. with the common object of killing the deceased. At about 3.30 p.m. while the deceased was going on his cycle from his village West Kaza towards Palakol with three empty cement bags to purchase sundry articles in the shandy at Palakol, all the accused armed with verukula knives surrounded him when he came to the scene of offence and inflicted injuries on him resulting in his death on the spot. A-1 hacked him on his right side neck. A-2 hacked him on his right side neck, and A-3 hacked him on his back; and when the deceased fell down A-4 hacked him on his left chest. A-5 hacked him on his right shoulder. A-6 hacked him below left shoulder and A-7 also hacked him. At the time of occurrence, the brother of the deceased Gubbala Sriramamurthy (PW-1) Gubbala Gopalam (PW-2) and Gubbala Chalapathi (PW-3) all of West Kaza village were following on two cycles a little behind the deceased, and witnessed the occurrence, and on seeing them, accused removed the body of the deceased to the nearby irrigation body and escaped with their weapons. The scene of occurrence was on the southern side of the road margin of Palakol-Vardhanam road in front of the cattle shed of Allam Udayavarlu on the outskirts of Palakol town. A-1 was the leader of the Congress-I party and the other accused were his followers; and the deceased was one of the organizers of CPM party. Besides political rivalries, there were personal rivalries between the families of A-1 and the deceased and number of criminal cases were filed against the persons belonging to the two parties. On the previous day, i.e. on 30-7-1993. Subbala Venkataswamy, the brother of A-1, performed the marriages of his son and daughter, and those belonging to Congress-I party under the leadership of A-1 did not attend that marriage while the deceased and his followers attended those marriages in large numbers and made them a grand success and this precipitated the matters and led the accused to a conspiracy to kill the deceased.
(3.) On completion of investigation charge-sheet was filed and after framing of charges, the trial was taken up. In order to further its version, prosecution examined 16 witnesses while the accused persons examined 7 witnesses to substantiate their plea of false implication and innocence. The trial Court found that as per prosecution, there were eye-witnesses PWs 1, 2 and 3, though PWs 2 and 3 resiled from the statements made during investigation. Primarily conviction was recorded placing reliance on the evidence of PW-1 though the trial Court and the High Court found that the evidence was not without blemish.;