Case: Ramreddy Rajeshkhanna Reddy  Vs. State Of A.P

The Appellant No.1 herein along with one Shaik Abdul Rahman, accused No.3 were convicted for commission of an offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Appellant No.2 herein was convicted under Section 302 IPC. They were prosecuted for committing murder of one Mohammad Rafiq Khan on 14.6.1998. The said offence was said to have been committed during the period between 10.30 p.m. of 14.6.1998 to 5.00 a.m. on 15.6.1998. The deceased was a motor mechanic. He and the Appellant No.1 herein were friends. The Appellant No.2 and two other accused were said to be his followers. A quarrel allegedly took place between the deceased on the one side and the Appellants on the other at about 9 p.m. on the said date near a theatre known as Durga Talkies in the town of Kothagudem. The quarrel, according to P.W.8-Routu Narender, who was himself a jeep driver and parked his vehicle near the afore-mentioned theatre, was on two counts: (1) the jeep of the Appellant No.1 had not been satisfactorily repaired by the deceased, although he had taken repair charges in respect thereof; and (2) the deceased was visiting a woman called Gugloth Dasli, who was said to be his concubine, upon being questioned in that behalf by the first appellant, the deceased, allegedly, retorted that he had been paying money to the said Dasli and, therefore, no one could stop him from visiting her, whereupon he was allegedly threatened. The parties exchanged hot words but P.W.8-Routu Narender and others are said to have intervened2. The deceased thereafter left for his residence in an auto. According to the prosecution, at about 10.30 p.m. on the same night, the Appellant No.1 went to the house of the deceased and called him on the ground that his jeep required some repairs. P.W.1-Md. Anwar Khan, the elder brother of the deceased was said to be present. He came out with him from the residence and allegedly saw the Appellant No.1 on the road. He stated that on the body of auto the word Swathi was inscribed. He furthermore, is said to have noticed the other two Appellants, i.e., Appellant Nos. 2 and 3 standing by its side. The deceased and the Appellants herein are said to have walked away. At about 5.00 a.m. in the next morning, P.W.2-Mohd. Mohamood Khan, another brother of the deceased returned home from his workshop. Upon an inquiry having been made as to whether the deceased had visited the workshop on the previous night along with the Appellant, he answered in the negative. The dead body was noticed by P.W.4-A. Venkateswarlu in the morning in front of his house. As the deceased was known to P.W.4, he went to P.W.1 and informed thereabout. They came to the spot whereafter P.W.1 rushed to the town police station of Kothagudem Town. He, however, did not enter the police station. He was standing on the road before the police station. P.W.5-J. Srinivas, at about 6.00 a.m., was passing by the said police station for shopping, P.W.1 requested him to scribe a report on his behalf describing the incident. P.W.5 accordingly scribed a report, which reads as under:"Yesterday i.e. on 14.6.1998 at about 10.30 Night time while I was at my residence along with my brother by name Rafeek Khan. On Ramreddi Rajesh Khanna came to my residence and called my brother then my brother came outside I had also followed him and questioned my brother as to where you are going for which my brother told me that Rajesh Khanna wanted to get his Jeep urgently repair by that time one Auto was standing at a distance to my house. On the top of the auto there was a name "Swathi" written in Telugu, by the side of auto one Bankur Ravi, Machaboina Ramesh, S.K. Abdul Rahman @ Nathi Babu were standing; after some time the above said four persons and my brother left the place in auto towards coolie line main road. My brother didnt return back on that night. Today i.e. on 15.06.1998 early in the morning at about 5.00 a.m. I asked my third brother by name Mohd. Khan about Rafeek Khan whether he was at the shed on the night for which he replied that he didnt came to shed on the night. At about 5.30 am one coolie line native by name Agulla Venkateswarlu came to me and said that my brother was found dead in front of his house and said that there was a bleeding injury on the neck4. The said Abdul Rahman was said to have been arrested from the house of Appellant No.2 on 1.7.1998. P.W.5-J. Srinivas, however, states that when he was scribing the First Information Report (FIR), the Appellants were already in the lockup. The FIR was said to have been despatched immediately. Post-mortem examination on the dead body of the deceased started from 11.00 a.m. and was completed at about 1.30 p.m. In the post- mortem report it was opined that rigor mortis was confined to upper and lower limbs and presumably on the basis thereof the death was found to have taken place between 1200 to 1500 hours5. Before the learned Sessions Judge several witnesses were examined to prove the prosecution case6. P.W.9-Dronapalli Chiranjeevi was said to be an eye witness. His statement before the police was recorded three days after the incident. The trial court in its judgment held him to be a reliable witness and passed a judgment of conviction, inter alia, relying on his evidence holding:"PW9 is also found to be a natural witness and he is returning to his house after attending Annadanam Karyakram on 14.6.1998 which had taken place at Seven Hills Hotal Area, Kothagudem. This is deposed that himself and one M.A. Isas Assha (DW18) were returning with a torch light as there was no electricity. It is also deposed that it was a rainy night and there was drizziling. The natural sequence of the events deposed by PW9 cannot be over looked for the reason that he is a planted witness. When he is returning from Annadana Karyakram in Coolie Line, hearing cries in the street is a natural event. On hearing cry there is every possibility of focusing the light towards that side, which is in the natural fashion. PW9 focused a torch light and identified the deceased Mohd. Rafiq Khan and three others. In all together he deposed four persons were present. He also specifically deposed that A-2 used a knife and cut the throat of the deceased and the overt acts of A1, A2 and A4 were stated before the court."7. The High Court, however, did not agree with the said views of the learned Sessions Judge opining:"At the outset, we must make it clear that we are not inclined to believe the evidence of PW9, the alleged eye- witnesses to the occurrence who was examined by the police two days after the registration of the crime though he was present at the scene of the offence at the time of the inquest, he never choose to inform the police about the fact that he had witnessed the murder."8. Having gone through the testimony of the said P.W.9, we are also of the opinion that the High Court was right in discarding his statement. The High Court, however, upheld the judgment of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Sessions Judge holding that the Appellants quarrelled with the deceased and thus, motive is proved which was witnessed by P.W.89. According to P.W.8, the Appellants came to the house of the deceased in an auto driven by P.W.6-Boosa Samba. They were allegedly seen together by the first informant P.W.1-Md. Anwar Khan, the brother of the deceased, as also P.W.3-Rehmana Begum, wife of the deceased. In view of the opinion of P.W.13-Dr. P. Venkateshwarlu, the death took place 12 to 15 hours prior to the conduct of the post-mortem examination. The time of the death of the deceased, thus relates back from 10.30 p.m. to 1.30 p.m. on 14.6.1998

Reasoning: In this case, the time of actual offence having regard to the different statements made by different witnesses may assume some importance as one of the grounds whereupon the High Court has based its judgment of conviction is the time of death of the deceased on the basis of the opinion rendered by Dr. P. Venkateshvarlu (P.W.13)It was, therefore, extremely difficult to purport the exact time of death of the deceased, more so when no sufficient reason was assigned in the post- mortem reportIn the Post-Mortem Report, apart from stating that rigor mortis were confined to both upper and lower limbs, no other reason has been disclosedEven the recovery of knife was said to have been made only from the Appellant No. 2The last-seen theory, furthermore, comes into play where the time gap between the point of time when the accused and the deceased were last seen alive and the deceased is found dead is so small that possibility of any person other than the accused being the author of the crime becomes impossible. Even in such a case courts should look for some corroborationFurthermore, the solitary witness, to prove the alleged motive, namely, P.W.8 was examined by the police after two days. No reliance, thus, can be placed on his evidenceIt may be true that the Appellant No. 2 was a history-sheeter. It may further be true that P.W.1 instituted a case against the Appellant No. 1 for threatening him when he was on bail. It may also be, that P.W.7 did not identify the Appellants as he was found shaking. If the Appellants are guilty of other offences, they can be proceeded against appropriately and in accordance with law. We hope the authorities would do so