Punchhi, J. - (1.) This appeal by special leave is directed against an affirming judgment and order of a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court dated June 23, 1983 passed in Criminal Appeal No. 992 of 1982.
(2.) The three accused appellants are interrelated. A-1 and A-2 are sisters, while A-3 is the husband of a younger sister of the former two. A-1 and A-2 were originally residents of Village Thuggili. Thereat A-1 was known as Nese Yashodamma, the name given to her by her parents. She became a Digambara Sanyasini and assumed the name Mangamma Avva and on assumption of that order started remaining naked. It was believed in certain quarters that she had thereby come to possess some miraculous powers. While so she became controversial and had to move over to establish an Asharam within the revenue limits or another Village known as Hulabeedu. Her sister A-2, Savitramma became her resident companion. At a distance of about 200 yards from the Asharam was a temple on a hillock which somehow got linked with the Asharam. A-3 named Pullanna, was an occasional visitor to the Asharam. The Asharam used to be visited by devotees regularly but special Puja and Bhajans were undertaken on every Tuesday and Friday, when the number of visiting devotees would swell. The visiting devotees used to make offerings in the form of cash or gold ornaments to the Sanyasini.
(3.) The deceased, Ramakoti Reddy, a young bachelor, then aged about 28 years had been a devotee for over five years and was more than ordinarily involved in the upkeep and running of the Asharam. Descriptively he was suggested to be a tall and hefty man of 5 feet 10 inches height. As part of the ritual on every Tuesday and Friday he would be in the Ashram. having come from his village Yellarathi (distance about 10 miles) and would carry A-1 on his shoulders from the Asharam to the hill-top temple, covering about 200 to 250 yards in distance. After performing the Puja at the temple, he would likewise carry A-1 back on his shoulders to the Asharam. As a part of his involvement, he took stock of the offerings received in the form of cash and gold. Sometimes he would convert the cash into gold and sometimes pawned gold to get cash in order to meet the expenses of the Asharam, which included serving free food to the devotees. Thus being involved in the activities of the Asharam, the deceased often used to stay during nights thereat. It is alleged that the deceased had developed a close illicit relationship with A-2, as he would normally sleep with her in one of the rooms in the Asharam. He had otherwise been known to be moving in the company of A-2 to various places in connection with the affairs of the Asharam. It was also alleged that sometimes A-1too would join the deceased in that separate room giving rise to the suspicion of her if illicit intimacy with the deceased. Both A-1 and A-2, as it turns out to be, were unmarried.;