Bathula Nagamalleswara Rao & Ors vs State Rep. By Public Prosecutor

6. Brief facts necessary for disposal of this appeal are as follows:-

7. On the day of occurrence i.e. 18th July, 1996 around 6:30 p.m. Rama Mohan Rao, son of A-6 was murdered at the outskirts of the same village. The accused persons believed that Tadikolana Venkateswara Rao might have murdered the son of A-6. On the same day at about 7:30 p.m. M. Shakuntala (PW-1), wife of deceased no.1, was standing on the verandah of their house, while deceased no. 1 and deceased no.2 were chit-chatting with M. Srihari (PW-2) and B. Sathyanarayana (PW-3) - both friends of deceased no.1, in front of the house of deceased no.1, they noticed a group of men armed with dangerous weapons moving towards the house of deceased no.1. On the advice of PW-3, deceased no.1 and his wife PW-1 rushed inside the house and bolted its door from inside. In the meanwhile, all the twelve accused trespassed into the house and committed mischief by breaking the telephone and other valuable articles lying in the house of deceased No. 1 and in the process, the accused noticed deceased no.1 concealing himself in the bedroom. The accused attacked deceased no. 1 indiscriminately with lethal weapons. It was the case of the prosecution that A-3 stabbed deceased No.1 with a crow bar thrice below stomach and in left side of his abdomen. A-1 assaulted deceased no.1 with a knife on both sides of the neck and chest. A-2 hacked on the right upper arm and A-3 cut the right wrist of deceased no.1 with a crow bar. Thereafter A-1 to A-3 continued inflicting injuries on other parts of the body of deceased no.1 in the presence of his wife PW-1 and as a result of severe injuries, Venkateswara Rao deceased No.1 died at the spot. It was alleged that the remaining accused chased Thalluri Sambasiva Rao deceased No. 2 who tried to escape from the scene of occurrence when A-6, A-10, A-11 and A-12 attacked deceased no.2 with axe, spears and crow bars. As a result of multiple injuries suffered by deceased No. 2 upon his body, he died in the bathroom of the house of deceased No.1. The whole incident was witnessed by P.Ws. 1, 2 and 3. On seeing the accused persons mercilessly attacking and assaulting deceased No. 1 and deceased No. 2 with dangerous weapons, both PWs-2 and 3 got frightened and they escaped from the scene of occurrence by jumping over the wall of the house. A- 4, A-5, A-7, A-8 and A-9 in the process damaged the doors, window glass panes of the house, motorcycle, television, etc. of deceased no.1. All the accused thereafter left the scene of occurrence.

8. On receiving the information about the incident, P. Maqbool Khan (PW-11) Sub-Inspector of Thulluru Police Station, rushed to the scene of occurrence and noticed the dead bodies of deceased No. 1 and deceased No. 2 lying in the house of deceased No.1. He recorded the statement of P.W. 1 at about 9:00 p.m (Exhibit P-1). On the basis of Exhibit P.1, PW-8 Head Cosntable P. Mallikarjuna Rao of Thulluru Police Station registered First Information Report (F.I.R.) in Crime No. 63/1996 under Exhibit P-5. Thereafter, K. Babu Rao (PW-

13), Circle Inspector of Police, took up investigation and conducted Panchnama (Exhibit P-2) of the scene of occurrence in the presence of B. Subba Rao (PW-5), held inquest over the dead bodies of both the deceased in the presence of M. Subba Rao (PW-6) and Puli Sambayya (PW-7) and prepared a joint Inquest Report (Exhibit P-4). Then, P.W. 13 got the scene of occurrence photographed through J. Rambabu (PW-9). On receipt of requisition from the Police on 19th July, 1996, Dr. K. Mahipal Reddy (PW-12) held autopsy over the dead bodies of deceased nos. 1 and 2 and issued post mortem certificates [Exhibits P9 and P10[ respectively. He opined that both the deceased appeared to have died due to multiple injuries. On 6th August, 1996 at about 8:00 a.m. P.W. 11 arrested A-7, A-8 and A-9. On 23rd August, 1996, he arrested A-2 and A-11 whereas A-1, A-3, A-4, A-6 and A-10 were arrested by PW-11 on 8th September, 1996.

10. The prosecution in support of its case examined as many as 13 witnesses. In their statements recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure [for short 'Cr.P.C'], the accused denied their involvement in the crime and pleaded false implication on suspension. In defence, the accused have examined Thummala Veeraiah Chowdary (D.W.1), Machiraju Koti Surya Prakasharao (D.W. 2), Yethirajula Srinivasarao (D.W.3) and Garji Rambabu (D.W. 4). The trial court, on scrutiny of the evidence on record, held the accused guilty of the aforesaid offences and, accordingly, convicted and sentenced them.

22. The evidence of PW-1 was attacked by A-1, A-2, A-3, A- 10, A-11 and A-12 on the ground that her presence at the relevant time on the spot on the day of occurrence was doubtful as in the morning she had gone to the house of her daughter at Vijayawada and was summoned after the incident of murder for making the statement (Ex.P1) on the basis of which FIR came to be registered. We have independently scrutinized the evidence of PW-1, wife of deceased No.1. It is her clear and consistent evidence that on 18.07.1996 at about 7:30 p.m. while she was standing at the verandah of her house and her husband along with Talluri Sambasivarao (deceased No.2), M. Srihari (P.W. 2), B. Satyanarayana (P.W. 3) and some more persons were chit-chatting in front of their house, she saw about 40 persons armed with dangerous weapons rushing to their house and on seeing them, P.W. 3 asked her and her husband Venkatarao to conceal themselves inside the house otherwise they would be killed by the rival group men. According to her, A-1, A-2, A-4 to A-12 along with A-3 came to the verandah of their house and after breaking open the doors, they caused damage to the T.V. and other articles lying in the rooms. A-3 was armed with crow-bar, A-1 was armed with knife, A-2 was having an axe in his hand. They entered into their bedroom through the bottom portion of the door. When her husband was standing at the corner of the bedroom, she requested A-1 to A-3 not to harm her husband. A-1 pulled her aside and A-3 stabbed her husband thrice with the crow-bar. A-2 assaulted him on the right arm. When her husband fell down on the floor, A-1 to A-3 indiscriminately inflicted more injuries on his body. Thereafter, her mother-in-law knocked at the door of the house and on opening the door she was informed by her mother-in-law that A-6, A-10, A-11 and A-12 had murdered Talluri Sambasivarao (deceased No.2) in their bathroom with crow-bars and axes. The trial court as also the High Court both have accepted the evidence of PW-1 in its entirety without any suspicion and embellishment The deceased No.1 sustained as many as 26 injuries on his body as noticed by Dr. K. Mahipal Reddy (PW-12) in post mortem certificate (Ex. P10). The cause of death of deceased No.1 in the opinion of the doctor was due to multiple injuries sustained by him with sharp-edged weapon. Ex. P1, which was the earliest version of the incident of murder narrated by PW-1 to the police would reveal that she had categorically named A-1, A-2, A-3 (A-3 died during the pendency of the trial), A-10, A-11 and A-12 as assailants who mercilessly inflicted multiple injuries on almost every part of the body of her husband with lethal weapons resulting in his death. The evidence of PW-1 finds corroboration from the medical evidence. Despite lengthy cross-examination, nothing has been elicited to discredit and discard her testimony, which has remained unshattered and consistent. A suggestion of the defence that A-10 was unable to walk without assistance of any person as he, at the relevant time, was aged about 70 years, has been denied by her. She categorically reasserted that firstly A-1 to A-3 encircled her husband and then A-1 assaulted him thrice with knife, while A-2 assaulted him on the right fore-arm with an axe and again A-1 and A-3 one after the other inflicted more severe injuries on the body of her husband with the weapons they were holding in their hands. A series of suggestions were put to her by the defence: (a) that on the morning of the day of the incident of murder of her husband she had gone to Vijayawada to look after her daughter Vasavi who was sick, (b) she was not present in the village and that about 10:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. she was called from Vijayawada, (c) after due deliberation and consultation among her well-wishers and relatives, she got complaint (Ex. P1) fabricated at about 2 0' clock in the intervening night of 18/19.07.1996, (d) the contents of Ex. P1 were not stated by her and she only subscribed her signatures thereon and (e) the police also contributed their role in fabricating her statement (Ex. P1) have emphatically and categorically been denied by her. She, however, admitted that A-6 is a leader of one group in her village, but she denied that on account of ill-feelings between two rival groups of the people in the village, a false case was foisted against the appellants by her. She also denied the further suggestion that none of the appellants was responsible for causing death of her husband or the death of Sambasivarao, deceased no.2.

37. In the result, there is no merit in this appeal and it is, accordingly, dismissed.

38. B. Seshaiah (A-10) is on bail pursuant to the order of this Court passed on 30.10.2006. His bail bonds are cancelled and surety is discharged. He is directed to surrender before the trial court within one month from the date of this order. The learned trial court shall remand him to jail for serving out the remainder part of the sentences. On failure of B. Seshaiah to appear before the trial court within the stipulated period, the learned trial court shall take appropriate steps against A-10 in accordance with law.