THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R.KANTHA RAO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1759 of 2009 Date: 04.12.2009 Between : The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by the Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. … Appellant And Chereddy Ajay @ Ajay Kumar, S/o. Krishnaiah, aged 28 years, Kamma by Caste, Mattivemulapadu village, S.N.Padu Mandal, Prakasam District and others. … Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R.KANTHA RAO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1759 of 2009 ORAL JUDGMENT: (per the Hon’ble Sri Justice D.S.R.Varma) Heard learned Public Prosecutor, appearing for the appellant- State as well as learned counsel appearing for the respondents- Accused Nos.1 to 6. 2. Appellant is the State and respondents are Accused Nos.1 to 6 in the Sessions Case. 3. This Criminal Appeal, by the State, under Section 378 (1) and (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is directed against the judgment, dated 29.9.2008, in Sessions Case No.147 of 2006, passed by the I Additional Sessions Judge, Ongole, Prakasam District, acquitting the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 420 and 406 of Indian Penal Code (for brevity “I.P.C.”). 4. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that the deceased- B.Rajendraprasad is unmarried and that he is friend and relation of Accused No.1, that 10 months prior to the death of the deceased, Accused No.1 induced the deceased to pay Rs.2,00,000/- for establishing a chappal shop for the deceased at Ongole, that accordingly the deceased made his father L.W.1 to pay Rs.2,00,000/- to Accused No.1 and Accused No.1 misappropriated the said amount and promised to repay the same after Sivarathri festival. It is the further case of the prosecution that Accused No.1 heard about secret treasures in their village and induced the deceased to pay some amount for the search of hidden treasures by Accused Nos.2 to 6. On 8.3.2005 Accused Nos.2 to 6 went to Vemulapadu village, which is the native village of the deceased, and stayed at Veerabhadra Swamy Temple and called for Accused No.1, that thereafter all of them went to the house of the deceased and took him to Pathuru, which is situate by the side of Musi river, that the deceased brought spade and axe along with him while following Accused No.1 and that the same was witnessed by P.Ws.1 and 2, who are the parents, and L.W.5 sister of the deceased. All the accused along with the deceased went to some other place in search of hidden treasure, but failed to trace the same, that when Accused No.2 demanded the deceased to pay the balance amount, the deceased refused to pay the same as they failed to trace the hidden treasures and hence some altercation took place between the deceased and Accused Nos.2 to 6, that at that time the deceased pounced upon Accused No.1 as he is responsible for it, upon which Accused No.1, who was intending to do away the life of the deceased, instigated the other accused to kill the deceased and as a result all the accused attacked the deceased with axe and spade and killed him. Basing on Ex.P.1 complaint given by P.W.1, father of the deceased, a case in Crime No.8 of 2005 of S.N.Padu Police Station was registered for the offences punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. and investigation was taken up. After completion of investigation and necessary formalities, the police laid the charge sheet against the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 420 and 406 I.P.C. 5. When the charges were framed, read over and explained to the accused, they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. 6. In order to bring home the guilt of the accused, the prosecution examined P.Ws.1 to 14 and got marked Exs.P-1 to P- 16, besides marking material objects MOs.1 to 13. On behalf of the accused, none were examined and no documents were marked. 7. The Court below, having considered the entire material including the evidence, both oral and documentary, available on record, found the accused not guilty of the offences with which they were charged and accordingly acquitted them of the said charges. Aggrieved by the same, the State has preferred the present criminal appeal. 8. Now, the point that arises for consideration in this Criminal Appeal is whether the Court below has rightly appreciated the evidence on record in acquitting the accused for the offences with which they were charged? 9. It is represented that during the pendency of the appeal, Accused No.3 died and, therefore, the case as against him is abated. 10. This is totally a case of circumstantial evidence, inasmuch as, there are no eye witnesses in this case. The only evidence that is relevant is the evidence of P.Ws.1 and 2, who are the parents of the deceased, who saw the deceased last in the company of the accused while carrying a spade and axe. 11. Obviously, Accused No.1 had taken a sum of Rs.2,00,000/- from the deceased and failed to repay the same, therefore, Accused No.1 was intending to do away the life of the deceased to evade payment of the said amount. But, the specific case of the prosecution was that the accused had taken the deceased to an unknown place and killed him. If that was the case of the prosecution, it is indiscernible as to why the deceased would carry axe and spade along with him and the same was witnessed by P.Ws.1 and 2. Subsequently what had happened is not known to anybody nor there is any other circumstance to corroborate the testimony of P.Ws.1 and 2, who are the parents of the deceased and also L.W.5 sister of the deceased, who spoke only to the effect that they had last seen the deceased in the company of the accused. Obviously, the evidence on record, which is circumstantial, is not satisfactory nor convincing nor capable of creating any confidence in the mind of the Court that the accused alone are responsible for the death of the deceased. Accordingly, benefit of doubt had been extended to the accused inasmuch as the chain of circumstances could not be said as complete or strong enough to point out that the accused alone are responsible for the death of the deceased. The evidence on record is totally unbelievable to connect the accused for the offences with which they were charged. 12. Therefore, the reasons assigned by the Court below, while arriving at the conclusion that the accused are not guilty of the offences with which they were charged, in our considered view, are cogent and the evidence on record was well appreciated before arriving at such a conclusion. 13. For the foregoing, the criminal appeal fails and is liable to be dismissed as having no merits. 14. In the result, the criminal appeal is dismissed, at the stage of admission, confirming the judgment, dated 29.9.2008, in Sessions Case No.147 of 2006, passed by the Court below. _________________________ JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA __________________________ JUSTICE R. KANTHA RAO 04.12.2009 Msr THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R.KANTHA RAO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1759 of 2009 04.12.2009 (Msr)