- (1.) These appeals by special leave are filed against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in Criminal Appeal No. 594 of 1996; wherein the High Court partly allowed the appeal filed by the State by convicting accused Chikkarangaiah (A-1), Gopala (A- 3), Gavisiddaiah (A-9), Ramakrishna @Ramachandra (A-10), Nanjundiah (A-11), Javaraiah (A-12), Shivalingaiah (A-13) and Puttaswamy (A-21) for an offence under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "the IPC") read with Section 149 of IPC and sentencing them to undergo imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/- each, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for three months while maintaining the order of acquittal under section 302 IPC. Earlier the trial court acquitted all the accused persons by judgment and order dated 22.04.1996 in S.C. No. 13 of 1990. Since these appeals arise out of the same facts and common judgment, we heard the appeals together and propose to dispose of the same by this common judgment.
(2.) In order to appreciate the rival contentions advanced by the parties and issues involved, it is necessary to set out brief facts of the case which gave rise to the present criminal appeals. The prosecution case in brief is that A-1 to A-6, A-9 to A-13 and A- 16 to A-21 were residents of Jodihosahalli, Kunigal Taluk whereas Kodakana Boraiah (A-7) was a resident of Seeyepalya, which was hardly one kilometer from Jodihosahalli. Kodakana Boralingaiah (A-8) was a resident of Puranipalya, which was about 1 1/2 kilometers from Jodihosahalli whereas Veerabhadraiah (A-14) and Shivanna (A-15) were residents of Hanumanapalya, which was about 1 1/2 kilometres from Jodihosahalli.
(3.) The deceased H. B. Boralingaiah was a resident of Jodihosahalli. He was a School Teacher. H. B. Boraiah (PW-1 as well as the complainant) was the younger brother of the deceased and was living in Jodihosahalli with his wife and children. The residential houses of PW-1 and the deceased were situated facing each other with a street in the middle running East to West. H. B. Lingaiah (A-5) was living in a house situated adjacent to the house of PW-1 on the western side.;