- (1.) All these appeals by special leave are preferred against the common judgment of the Karnataka High Court in Criminal Appeal Nos. 791, 792 of 1988 and 129-130 of 1989 dated 20th July, 1990. Briefly stated the facts as presented by the prosecution are the following:- P. W. 16 Praveen Chandra was the Divisional Forest Officer of Sirsi Division during the relevant period. On 19-4-1988, at about 4.00 p.m. he received a phone call from an an-nonymous caller that at night at about 1.00 a.m. (20-4-1988), there was likelihood of a lorry transporting forest produce from Manjuguni side and the same person called P. W. 16 half an hour later and informed him that his officials would do well to be present near Kambigar cross at about 11.00 p.m. itself.
(2.) The area referred to by the anonymous caller fell in the jurisdiction of Hulekal Range Forest Officer. Accordingly, P. W. 16 summoned the deceased Arvind Hegde, the concerned Forest Range Officer to meet him to take instructions in connection with the above-said phone call. The deceased met P. W. 16 at about 6.30 p.m. on 19-4-1988, and he was asked by P. W. 16 to keep a watch at the Kambiger Cross to intercept the lorry that was expected to transport illegally cut forest fuel wood. The deceased was also instructed to take necessary staff with him for his assistance. The revolver in the custody of P. W. 16 was also handed over to the deceased. One Mahabaleshwar Joshi was the brother-in-law of the deceased and was also a Forest contractor. Few days earlier he has lent his Ambassador Car bearing No. MES 6008 with the deceased. The deceased travelled in the said car from Sirsi to Hulekal range Office and took the assistance of P. Ws 2 and 3 (forest guards) and went to Hegdekatta Forest Officer to take the assistance of P. W. 1. P. W. 1 was requested to secure the presence of P.Ws. 4 and 5 (forest guards) for further assistance. P. Ws. 2 and 3 were armed with a gun each. The deceased further directed the forest guards to place heavy stones across the road to block free passage to the lorry. At about the 3.30 a.m. on 20-4-1988, as expected, the lorry returned from Kambigar Forest loaded with illegally cut jungle wood upto the body level. The lorry had a name board 'Shriman Narayana' and registration No. MYE 5070. In spite of the deceased signaling the lorry to stop, it fled away avoiding the stones kept on the road. The deceased fired at it with his revolver, but the bullet could not release. P. W. .2 also fired from his gun, but it missed the target, namely the wheel tyre of the vehicle. Thereafter the deceased and his men followed the lorry in their car and the lorry having gone near the house of one Neelkantha Hegde stopped in front of it. A-11 was driving the lorry and there were 4 persons in the lorry. All of them got down and ran to the house of Neelkantha Hegde.
(3.) Neelkantha Hegde, his sons, namely, A-1, A-3, A-4, A-10 as well as his Uncle's sons, namely A-2, A-5, A-8 and A-9 were all in the house and they came out of the house on seeing the lorry. The deceased informed the accused who came out of the house that A-11 had driven the lorry without stopping the same in spite of signal was given to stop the same. The deceased called upon then to produce any permit if they had to cut and carry jungle wood,. The accused replied in the negative, when the deceased informed them that the lorry would be seized, all the accused protested that they would not allow him to seize the lorry, but wanted to unload the wood. In spite of the deceased repeatedly informing them about the various forest offences committed and about the information they had already got and instructions given by P. W. 16, the accused did not allow the deceased to discharge his official duty. Realising the situation, the deceased asked P. W. 5 to inform P. W. 16 on phone about the happenings there. The deceased also asked P. W. 4 to go to Sirsi and bring P. W. 16 to the spot. Sensing the gravity of the situation, A-4, A-6 and A-7 told the other accused that before the arrival of P. W. 16, the lorry must be removed from that place for the purpose of unloading the fuel elsewhere. The deceased was also equally determined to carry out his job. The deceased and P. W. 1 stood in front of the lorry on its left side and P. W. 2, stood on the right side. While so, A-1 occupied the driver's seat, A-8 and A-10, sat by his side in the cabin. When A-1 started the engine, A-4, A-6 and A-7 dragged the forest guards aside and tore their uniform. A-2 and A-6 snatched the gun from P. W. 2. A-7 snatched the gun held by P. W. 6. When the accused attempted to drive the lorry, the deceased who was standing in front of it climbed over the crashguard in front of the vehicle A-2, A-3, A-5 and A-9 climbed into the body of the vehicle. A-1 started the vehicle while the deceased was standing on the crashguard. The guard and the foresters followed the lorry running and at that time A-11 (who drove the lorry in the first instance) emerged from his hiding and shouted that as they were always facing obstructions from the forest guards they should be killed. The lorry thus went to a distance of about 1 1/2 furlongs on that forest road then came to a halt near Yantalli Cross. When the lorry was at that Cross, the forest guards heard the voice of the deceased that he was being killed. A-1, A-8 and A-19 got down from the cabin of the vehicle and A-8 stated assaulting the deceased with a jungle wood. All the accused had surrounded the deceased and when the Guards reached the spot, they left the place saying that everything was over. The shirt that the deceased was wearing, one of the shoes, his revolver with belt, his waist belt were all lying near him and he was lying with blood injuries and was found dead. That was about 5.10 a.m. when P. W. 16 along with the Sub Inspector of Police, Sirsi and some police personnel arrived at the spot, the deceased was shifted in a car to the Government hospital at Sirsi along with P. W. 2, 3 and 6. P. W. I. gave written complaint at the Sirsi Police Station at 9.30 a.m. A case was registered as Crime No. 37/88. The Circle Inspector (P. W. 30) on receiving information about the murder of the deceased and his body being kept at the mortuary of the Government hospital went there and seeing that same violence was likely to take place, made arrangements for maintaining peace. Thereafter he held inquest over the dead body, examined witnesses and arrested Accused Nos. 1 to 6 P. W. 30 seized MO 2 a blood-stained firewood pellet stated to have been used in assaulting the deceased, the leather belt of the deceased, one shoe, a cap, the revolver of the deceased, a misfired bullet, blood stained earth, and 2 live cartridges. On the left side mudguard of the lorry, some bloodstains were seen and its scrapings were collected. The lorry was seized under a mahazer. The Ambassador car was found parked about 300 yards away from the spot where the deceased was murdered. The switch key was in the dashboard. The two guns that were carried by the two guards were also found on the back side of the vehicle. Two used cartridges and one unused cartridge was also lying there. After examination some more witnesses P. W. 30, handed over investigation to the Core of Detectives (C.O.D). P. W. 31 who took over further investigation from P. W. 30, sent the blood-stained articles for chemical analysis, sent the fire-arms, cartridges etc. to the ballistic experts in the State Science Laboratory and on completion of the investigation, filed the charge-sheet.;