HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE V. ESWARAIAH AND HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P. SWAROOP REDDY CRIMINAL APPEAL No.88 OF 2008 JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice P. Swaroop Reddy) This Criminal Appeal is preferred by the State assailing acquittal of the respondents, accused Nos.1 to 4, by the learned I Additional Sessions Judge, Mahbubnagar, vide judgment in S.C. No.265 of 2005 dated 04-09-2006 for the offences under Sections 302 and 302 read with 109 IPC. 2. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is as under: T h e de facto complainant is son of the deceased Pedda Jangaiah. Accused Nos.2, 3 and 4 are brother-in-law, servant and coparcener respectively of accused No.1. In 2004, brother of accused No.1 died at the agricultural fields of the deceased due to electrocution and the matter was neither reported to the police nor the village elders. However, accused No.1 suspected the deceased for the death of his brother and developed grudge against him. Added to that deceased beat and warned accused No.4 about her bad character about which she (A-4) gave police report against him and the same was registered as Crime No.35 of 2004 by the Mahbubnagar Rural Police Station for the offences under Sections 323 and 504 IPC. One week prior to the murder of the deceased, accused No.1 called accused No.2 to Appannapalli and conspired to kill the deceased and hatched a plan for the same. Accused No.1 secured the presence of accused Nos.2 and 3 by offering Rs.5,000/- to kill the deceased. Accused No.1 went to the hotel of one Veera Reddy, purchased two quarter bottles of whisky and then all the accused went to Delhiwala Garden, consumed whisky and at that time accused No.4 abetted accused Nos.1 to 3 to kill the deceased as she was beaten and insulted by the deceased by interfering in her private affairs. While so, on 28-12-2004, accused Nos.1 to 3 secured a knife and iron rod from Delhiwala Garden, came to the groundnut field of the deceased at about 9-30 PM and on finding the deceased present there, they pushed him on the ground and accused No.2 stabbed him indiscriminately while accused No.1 held head of the deceased and accused No.3 put an iron rod over the legs of the deceased to see that he shall not resist and accused No.2 cut his throat. On hearing hue and cry, PW-4 Muthyala Prasad (LW.6) and LW-7 Sudhakar rushed to the spot and found the deceased dead with bleeding injury on the throat. On complaint, a case in Crime No.334 of 2004 was registered by the Mahbubnagar Rural Police Station, Mahbubnagar for the offences under Section 302 and 201 read with 109 IPC against all the accused and after the investigation filed charge sheet against accused Nos.1 to 3 for the offence under Section 302 read with 34 IPC and against accused No.4 under Section 302 read with 109 IPC and the same was taken on file. 3. For the charge framed for the offence under Section 302 IPC against accused Nos.1 to 3 and the charge framed under Section 302 read with 109 IPC against accused No.4, all of them pleaded not guilty. 4. To substantiate their case, prosecution got examined PWs.1 to 14 and got marked Exs.P-1 to P-15 apart from M.Os.1 to 8. 5. After completion of the evidence of the prosecution, when the accused were examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C., they denied the incriminating material against them in the evidence of the prosecution. 6. It is a case of circumstantial evidence since there are no eyewitnesses to the incident and as the learned Sessions Judge acquitted the accused holding that circumstantial evidence is insufficient to convict them. Challenging the same, State preferred this appeal. 7. Though the respondents are served with notices, none appears on their behalf. 8. We have heard the learned Public Prosecutor and perused the material available on record. 9. The point that arises for consideration is whether the learned Sessions Judge erred in acquitting the accused of the offences alleged against them? 10. As already referred, the motive for the offence is said to be previous enmity between the deceased and accused Nos.1 and 4 on account of the death of the brother of accused No.1 at the fields of the deceased due to electrocution for which deceased was suspected to be responsible and as the deceased chastised accused No.4 for her alleged bad character etc. 11. Out of the witnesses examined on behalf of the prosecution, PW.1 is the son of the deceased. According to him, on the date of incident, deceased came to the fields after taking dinner at about 7-45 PM and at that time he (PW.1) was present there along with his brothers and the deceased asked them to go home and return after the dinner. Then they went to the village and after having dinner, he along with his farm servant Shankaraiah, nephew Sathaiah and a neighbour returned to the field at about 9-30 PM, when they were about to reach the field, they found Muthyala Prasad and Sudhakar coming towards them by running and raising hue and cry. Then, his farm servant rushed to the deceased to collect phone number of the poultry farm to know as to what happened to Prasad and Sudhakar and having found the deceased dead, he raised hue and cry stating that the deceased died as somebody slit his throat. Then, he also rushed to the deceased and found stab injuries on his chest and bloodstains. He also stated that about three years prior to the incident, brother of accused No.1 died due to electrocution of the electric motor at his (PW.1’s) field and from then accused No.1 proclaimed that he would kill either PW.1 or the deceased. He further stated that accused No.4 is the daughter-in-law of his senior paternal uncle, accused No.2 is brother-in-law of accused No.1, accused No.3 is friend of accused No.1 and accused No.4 is a close relative of accused No.1. About one month prior to the death of the deceased, there was a quarrel between the deceased and accused No.4 at Veera Reddy Hotel as the deceased chastised accused No.4 alleging her to be a bad character and her son Pittala Raju threatened the deceased to kill him. Hence, he lodged the complaint suspecting the accused persons. Thus, PW.1 spoke only about motive part of the incident and about his immediately seeing the deceased with injuries and of his suspecting the accused for the murder of the deceased. 12. The evidence of PW.2 Pittala Shankaraiah, farm servant of the deceased, is that he saw the deceased immediately after the incident while he, deceased, was lying with injuries at the field. 13. The evidence of PW.3 B. Sathaiah is that while himself and PWs.1 and 2 were going to the field of the deceased, as Prasad and Sudhakar were going towards village on the motorcycle at high speed, they went to their poultry farm and having found nobody there, sent PW.2 to his field to bring the phone number of the owner of the poultry farm and accordingly he went there and rushed back reporting about the deceased lying dead with his throat slit open and stab injuries on the chest. He also spoke about some motive part for the incident. 14. The evidence of PW.4 M. Prasad, farm servant of one Anjaneyulu, is that as on the date of incident at about 9-30 PM, while himself and Sudhakar, another farm servant, were sleeping in the poultry farm, they heard the cries of the deceased from his field and rushed to him with the help of a torch light and found him dead with an injury on his throat. 15. The evidence of PW.5 Pittala Sathaiah, a resident of the village, is that he used to visit his field during nights for guarding the same from wild pigs. On the date of incident, he went to the field on a pathway and when he was about to reach his fields, he noticed accused Nos.1 to 3 running across him from the bushes towards forest. He learnt about the death of the deceased and suspected accused Nos.1 to 3 being responsible for the death of the deceased. 16. PW.6 Godugu Shankaraiahh, who was supposed to speak about the circumstances of the incident, turned hostile. PW.7 Pitta Thirupathaiah spoke about the earlier incident, which is with regard to motive of accused No.4 to kill the deceased. PW.8 K. Veerareddy is owner of a hotel. He stated that he does not know anything about the enmity between the deceased and accused No.4. This witness also treated hostile by the prosecution. PW.9 Y. Balakishan, who was supposed to speak about the circumstances of the incident, also turned hostile. PW.10 Pilli Pratap is an inquest panch. PW.11 is a witness for the alleged confession of the accused and for recovery of the knife, which was used for killing the deceased, at the instance of the accused. 17. PW.12 is the medical officer that conducted autopsy on the dead body of the deceased. According to him, deceased died due to injuries caused on his vital organs i.e. major bleeding vessels. 18. PW.13, the Inspector of Police, is the investigating officer. PW.14 is the Assistant Sub Inspector of Police who received the complaint initially and registered the case. 19. Thus, other than PW.5, no witness spoke about the accused being found in the vicinity of the scene of offence immediately after the incident. Hence, their evidence is not of any use except with regard to motive. Motive itself is insufficient to convict any accused in the absence of any substantial evidence. In the absence of any direct evidence, the only evidence that can be considered is of PW.5 as he spoke about his finding accused Nos.1 to 3 immediately after the incident. He stated that when he was about to reach his field, noticed accused Nos.1 to 3 running across his from the bushes, but he can identify accused No.2 alone properly. He further stated that since after some time, he heard weeping of PW.1 etc., the sons of the deceased, he proceeded to the agricultural well of the deceased and found the deceased dead there lying on the cot and his throat slit open. He cautioned PW.1 and his brothers not to touch the dead body till the police dogs visit the scene of offence. On the same night, police came to the scene of offence. They suspected accused Nos.1 to 3 as culprits of the murder of the deceased. Thus, this witness wanted to say that he has seen accused Nos.1 to 3 running immediately after the incident in the vicinity of the scene of offence. In the cross- examination, he has stated that for the first time in the Court he was revealing about his seeing accused Nos.1 to 3 immediately after the incident and at the time of incident he did not reveal the names of accused Nos.1 to 3 even before the police in his statement. Thus, neither in the statement under Section 162 Cr.P.C. nor in the inquest report, name of PW.5 is referred as the person that has seen accused Nos.1 to 3 running near the vicinity of the incident immediately after the incident. Hence, no credence can be given to the evidence of this witness - PW.5. Thus, when the evidence of PW.5 also cannot be believed, there is nothing on record to prove the guilt of the accused. Hence, the finding of the trail Court acquitting the accused of the offences alleged against them cannot be said to be erroneous. 20. Thus, we find no illegality or infirmity to interfere with the findings of the trial Court, as such, the appeal is liable to be dismissed. 21. Accordingly, the Criminal Appeal is dismissed. No order as to costs. ____________________ V. ESWARAIAH, J December 21, 2010. ____________________ P. SWAROOP REDDY, J PV