Ramreddy Rajeshkhanna Reddy & Anr vs State Of Andhra Pradesh

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 intervened. 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:

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 hours.

The High Court, however, did not agree with the said views of the learned Sessions Judge opining:

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.

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 report.

Even the recovery of knife was said to have been made only from the Appellant No. 2.

But, keeping in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, we are of the opinion that the prosecution cannot be said to have established the guilt of the Appellants herein beyond all shadow of doubt. The prosecution story has a large number of loopholes and, thus, we have no other option but to hold that the Appellants are entitled to the benefit of doubt. The impugned judgment is, therefore, set aside and the appeals are allowed. The Appellants are directed to be set at liberty unless wanted in connection with other case.