- (1.) THESE appeals have been preferred by the Appellants against the judgment dated 1st May, 2009 passed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad in Criminal Appeal No. 1494 of 2006 and 167 of 2007. By the impugned Judgment, the High Court acquitted some of the accused but affirmed the conviction of Appellants for the offence Under Section 302 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC') in the following terms: "1. The conviction and sentence recorded against Appellant Nos. 1 and 2/A -1, A -2 in Criminal Appeal No. 1494/2006 and Appellant No. 1/A -9 in Criminal Appeal No. 167/2007 for the offence Under Section 302 read with Section 34 Indian Penal Code for causing the death of D -1 and the conviction and sentence recorded against Appellant Nos. 3 and 4/A -3 and A -4 in Criminal Appeal No. 1494/2006 for the offence Under Section 302 r/w Section 34 for causing the death of D -2 are confirmed.
(2.) THE conviction and sentences recorded against Appellant Nos. 1 and 2/A -1, A -2 in Criminal Appeal No. 1494/2006 and Appellant No. 1/A -9 in Criminal Appeal No. 167/2007 for the offences Under Sections 324 and 148 Indian Penal Code are set aside and conviction and sentences recorded against Appellant Nos. 3 and 4/A -3 and A -4 in Criminal Appeal No. 1494/2006 for the offences Under Sections 324 and 148 Indian Penal Code are set -aside; The conviction and sentence recorded against appellant No. 8/A -8 in Criminal Appeal No. 1494/2006 for the offence Under Sections 302, 148 and 324 Indian Penal Code are set - aside, instead he is convicted for the offence Under Section 324 Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of two (2) years.
(3.) THE conviction and sentences recorded against Appellant Nos. 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15/A -5, A -6, A -7, A -10, A -11, A -13 to A -17 in Criminal Appeal No. 1494/2006 and Appellant No. 2/A -18 in Criminal Appeal No. 167/2007 for the offences Under Sections 302, 148 and 324 Indian Penal Code are set -aside and they are acquitted of the charges levelled against them. They shall be set at liberty forthwith, if they are not required in any other crime." The Appellants were the accused Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9. 2. The substance of the charge against the accused is that on 27.5.2001 at about 11 A.M. near Anjaneya Swamy Temple at Udmuligidda Village, all the accused gathered into an unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons and in furtherance of their common object to cause the death of Kalludukanamkadi Gopal (hereinafter referred to as "D -1") and Kalludukanamkadi Laxmappa (hereinafter referred to as "D -2") and during the course of the same transaction, they further caused injuries to K. Hanumanthu (P.W. 11) and P. Bheemappa (P.W. 13). 3. The facts of the occurrence, as alleged by the prosecution are thus: "K. Bheemappa (P.W.1), Kalludukanamkadi Hanumanthu (P.W. 11) and D -1 are the brothers and sons of D -2. Bheemappa (P.W. 13) is the brother of D -2. Puliumamidi Ashamma (P.W. 5) is the wife of P.W. 13 and Pulimamidi Golla Narasappa (P.W. 12) is their son. A -2, A -3 and A -4 are the brothers. A -1 and A -6 are brothers. A -9 and A -12 are the sons of A -11. A -8 is the brother -in -law of A -7. A -18 is the son -in -law of A -1. A -14 is the wife of A -1. A -15 is the wife of A -3. A -16 is the wife of A -10 and A -17 is the wife of A -8. There were long standing land disputes between the accused and the deceased family. The son of A -1 was murdered in the year 2000, in which case D -1, D -2, P.W. 1, P.W. 11 to 13 were shown as accused and since then the accused bore grudge against the deceased family. On 27.5.2001 at about 10.30 A.M., while D -1, D -2, P. Ws. 1, 3, 5, 11, 12 and 13 were loading manure in the tractor in the outskirts of Udmuligidda Village, A -1, A -2 and other accused assaulted them. On seeing them, D -1 tried to run away. D -1 rushed into the house of P.W. 2(declared hostile) and tried to hide himself there. The accused chased him and both A -1 and A -2 forcibly opened the door and dragged D -1 out of the house and assaulted him indiscriminately with sticks hitting on his hip and buttocks. A -9 assaulted him with an axe blow on the back of his neck. Meanwhile, Lalappa (A -3) and Venkatappa (A -4) assaulted D -2 by hitting him with sticks on his face and left temporal region and caused him bleeding injuries. G. Narasimhulu (A -5) and G. Thippanna (A -6) assaulted D -1 by hitting with sticks on his back side. A -4, A -15, A -16 and A -17 threw stones on the heads of D -1 and D -2. The remaining accused A -7 and A -8 assaulted P.W. 1 by throwing stones on the left side of his head. A -10 and A -11 assaulted Ashamma (P.W.5) by throwing stones. A -12 and A -13 assaulted Narsimhulu with stones and kicked him with legs. A -18 assaulted Bheemappa (P.W. 13) by throwing stones on his head and other parts of body. Due to the injuries sustained, D -1 died on the spot. While shifting D -2 and the other injured persons to Narayanpet Hospital, D -2 died on the way, due to the injuries sustained. On the next day at about 14.00 hours, P.W.I lodged an FIR Ex. P -1 before Damarigidda Police Station. On the basis of Ex. P -1, P.W. 16 the then Head Constable registered the case as Crime No. 9/2001 and issued FIR covered under Ex. A -27. P.W. 17, the then Inspector of Police took up investigation." 4. After investigation, the charge sheet against the accused were framed for the offence Under Sections 148, 302 read with 149 (two counts) and 324 read with 149 Indian Penal Code (two counts) and the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. Thereafter, the case has been transferred to the IV Additional Sessions Judge (FTC), Mahabubnagar. On behalf of the prosecution, 17 witnesses were examined and other evidences were led. On appreciation of evidence, the Trial Court convicted the accused Nos. 1 to 11 and 13 to 18 for the offences punishable Under Sections 302, 148, 324 read with Section 149 Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence Under Section 302 Indian Penal Code and six months rigorous imprisonment for each of the offence punishable Under Sections 148 and 324 Indian Penal Code respectively. All sentences were directed to run concurrently.;