- (1.) This is an appeal under Section 379, Code of Criminal Procedure (Criminal Procedure Code) read with Section 2 of the Supreme court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970. It is directed against the judgment and order of the High court of Judicature, A. P. at Hyderabad by which the High court reversed the acquittal of the appellants and convicted them of diverse offences under Section 302 read with Section 149, Indian Penal Code (Indian Penal Code) , Section 307, Indian Penal Code and also under S. 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment and other sentences as detailed in the judgment under appeal. The appeal against acquittal of Original Accused 10 has been dismissed by the High court and so far as his acquittal is concerned it is no longer in challenge before us. In this appeal, we are concerned with the conviction and sentence of Appellants 1 to 9 who were Original Accused 1 to 9 respectively before the trial court. We shall refer to the appellants as Accused 1 to 9 in this judgment for the sake of convenience.
(2.) A few relevant facts leading to this appeal are required to be noted at the outset to appreciate the grievance voiced on behalf of these nine accused by their learned counsel. The prosecution case against them ran as follows: A-1 to A-9 and most of the material prosecution witnesses, PWs 1, 7 to 9 and father of Public Witness 1, K. Ramalinga Reddy (who was subsequently murdered on 15/5/1989 are all residents of Boilkuntla village. PWs 2 and 3 belonged to Chennur. PWs 5 and 6 belonged to R. Pampalli and Revenur villages respectively. A-10 belonged to Yerragaddenna village
(3.) There are factions consisting of the sons of Bali Reddy on one side and Gangula Pratap Reddy who was by then a sitting MLA, from Allagadda Constituency, on the other side. PWs 1 to 9 and father of PWs 1 to 7-K. Ramalinga Reddy - are the followers of sons of Bali Reddy while A-1 to A-9 are the followers of Gangula Pratap Reddy. Due to the ill feelings between the two camps, at about 5.30 p. m. on 18/9/1985 A-1 to A-9 and others made an attempt to kill Ramalinga Reddy having formed themselves into an unlawful assembly, by hurling country-made bombs at him and his followers at the outskirts of Boilkuntia village in Kurnool District of A. P. On the basis of the said incident, Crime No. 75 of 1985 of Sirvel Police Station was registered and A-1 to A-9 were waiting for an opportunity to do away with the lives of K. Ramalinga Reddy and his followers;