- (1.) Appellant was convicted for offence punishable under Section 364 A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC'), and sentenced to life imprisonment by the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Chitradurga (hereinafter referred to as the 'trial court'). In appeal Karnataka High Court by the impugned judgment confirmed the conviction and sentence. It is to be noticed that four persons faced trial. Appellant-accused for the sake of convenience is described as A-1 and the co-accused as A2 to A4. They were acquitted by the trial court.
(2.) Accusations which led to the trial of the accused persons are as follows: Vijayabhasker, (PW 2) was a student of S.J.M. College, situated on Holalkere Road in Chitradurga, he was studying I year B.Sc., and was staying at Challakere in his Uncle's house. He used to come to Chitradurga to attend the college daily by bus. Jagadish (PW 3) was a classmate of PW 2 and resident of Challakere, both of them usually come together to Chitradurga from Challakere. On 25-11-1997 Vijayabhaskar, (PW 2), Jagadish (PW 3) and their friend Raghavendra, (PW 4) finished their practical classes and came out of the college at about 2-45 p.m. At that time, a person called PW 2 by taking his name, he turned and saw that person was wearing white shirt and pant. PW 2 went to him and was told by that person that he knew his father Hanumantha Rao, as he used to come to their village Chintarlapalli in Anantapur District, for Tamarind business. He enquired with PW 2 about the fees and other expenses stating that he wanted to admit his son. PW. 2 told him that about Rs.2,000/- will be the expenses in the college. A Trax Jeep was parked nearby. The said person took PW 2 towards the Trax jeep informing him that his son is there. PW 2 went there, he was asked to sit in the jeep. Three other persons also came and sat in the jeep. The person who took him to the jeep also sat by his side, there were two drivers in the jeep, they closed the doors of the jeep and it was driven towards Challakere on N.H. 4. They treated PW 2 well till they crossed Challakere gate. Thereafter he was threatened not to raise any voice, otherwise he will be murdered. After they crossed Challakere, they enquired from him about the phone number stating that they will ask his father to pay Rs. 4,00,000/- to them for his release. PW 2 told them that such huge amount cannot be arranged and hardly they may get about Rs.50,000/- by raising loan from others. They told him that their Boss wanted at least Rs.2,00,000/-. On the way, they allowed him to meet the call of nature however some of them accompanied him. He was given water to drink. They stopped the vehicle near a village and the accused persons got down for buying cigarettes. The drivers in the jeep asked him to run away, and accordingly PW.2 ran away, he came to know that the place was Byrapur village. He went and informed the villagers and got them near the jeep, they surrounded the said jeep, caught hold the accused persons, informed to the police, Molakalmurnu. They were all taken to the police station along with the said jeep. Later on PW. 2 gave complaint as per Ex.P.2, which was registered. Subsequently, the case was transferred to Chitradurga Rural Police and then the charge-sheet came to be filed. According to prosecution accused No.1 Malleshi was the person who was in white shirt and pant, who abducted PW. 2 from the college and accused Nos. 2 to 4 were the other three persons who were in the jeep during the course of the incident.
(3.) Trial court analysed the evidence of PW. 2 who was the main witness and whose abduction was alleged. PWs. 3 and 4 were also stated to have witnessed a part of the occurrence i.e. A 1 calling the victim PW-2 and their going together towards the vehicle. Though PW. 4 resiles from the statement made during investigation, his evidence corroborated that of PWs. 2 and 3 to the extent that he had seen PW. 2 going in the company of somebody towards the trax jeep. PWs. 6 and 11 were the drivers of the vehicle. They resiled from their statements recorded during investigation. Trial court took into account the evidence of PWs. 2 and 3 and the fact that the vehicle and the accused persons were confined by the villagers and they were arrested from the spot found the accused/appellant guilty while acquitting A-2 to A-4 as the evidence was not found sufficient to convict them.;