Rangaiah vs State Of Karnataka

2. There is a small village `Rammanahalli' situate near the town of Mysore. It has two streets called `Kelaginakeri' and `Melinakeri'. A cinema tent was put therein. There were two groups in the village residing 2 in one or the other said streets. One group intended the owner of cinema/theatre to exhibit films starring Dr. Rajkumar and the other group asked them to exhibit the films starring Sri Vishnuvardhan. They had been asking the proprietor of the theatre to release the films in which their favourite stars were acting. The occurrence took place at about 8.00 a.m. on 9.12.1990.

3. The prosecution case is as under:

4. Deceased allegedly made a dying declaration, which was recorded by P.W. 23 -J.S. Srikanta Murthy, Investigating Officer in the presence of duty doctor, Dr. Jagannath C.W.21. Dr. Jagannath, however, was not examined.

5. P.W. 23, in his deposition, had accepted that he did not obtain any certificate from the doctor that the deceased was both in a mentally and physically fit condition to give a dying declaration. Admittedly, no judicial officer was asked to record a dying declaration although the deceased after receiving the injury was alive for about 32 hours.

6. P.W.3 Dr. Hemavathy examined Maruchhaiah, the deceased and found only one cut injury 1 = cm x = cms on the left side of the posterior exillery fold. She found `bleeding present'; air bubble was also seen from the wound.

7. P.W. 1- Maruchhaiah is the complainant. He is son of the deceased. According to him, the people of `Kelaginakeri' started chasing `Melinakeri' people. Since they came near his house, he also started running towards Rama Mandir. At that time (i.e., while running), he saw the appellant stabbing his father below on the left shoulder near arm pit. Later appellant and Madhu (P.W. 6) started fighting. Madhu snatched the knife from the hands of appellant and in the process he injured his right hand finger. The knife was stained with blood. According to this witness, there is a pial in the Rama Mandir. In his cross-examination, P.W. 1 stated that it cannot be seen from the road as to who is sitting on the pial. He saw his father at 7.30 a.m. He took his father to the Hospital and then came back to the police 5 station. He found Rachimallaiah there, who was detained for having injured the appellant. People from `Melinakeri' street were also present. In the First Information Report (FIR), he did not disclose that Madhu was an eye- witness to the occurrence.

Allegedly, on the day of incident at about 7.00 a.m., the deceased had asked him to bring a cup of tea from the hotel which is at a distance of about 50 feet from the place of occurrence. The incident took place when he brought tea for the deceased. According to him, appellant stabbed the deceased in the left arm pit whereafter he snatched the knife from him and in this process he injured his fingers and when he questioned the appellant, he ran away.

He kept the said knife with himself. He, for reasons best known to him, handed over the knife to the police authorities on the next day of the incident. The knife did not contain any blood stain. Although a seizure memo must have been prepared on the date of incident, the police had taken his signature only on the next day. He was injured on the date of incident but he went to the hospital for his treatment only on the third day of the occurrence. According to him, Rachimallaiah was not seen near the scene 6 of occurrence. He accepted that prior to the incident police van was stationed in the village in the `Kelaginakeri'area and it was shifted to the scene of occurrence thereafter.

11. Charges were framed under Sections 302 & 324 of the Indian Penal Code for committing murder of Maruchhaiah and causing injury to P.W.6 Madhu with a knife. Before proceeding to consider the evidence of witnesses examined on behalf of the prosecution, we may place on record that a day prior to the said occurrence, i.e. on 8.12.1990, a quarrel had taken place between the two groups. Police Personnel were stationed in the village. Two constables were standing a little away from the place where the incident had allegedly taken place. No police personnel was examined. 7 Why they could not prevent the occurrence has not been disclosed. If they were near the scene of occurrence, they must have witnessed the same. At least, they should have reached the place of occurrence immediately thereafter.

It was the dead body of an old aged male, aged about 70 years of normal built and nourishment, body was cold, height 170 cms, Hairs on the head were short 1 cm. long with a 5 cm. long pig tail on the back of the head. The whole body upto inguinal region including the serotum swollen and crepitations felt on palpation. Eyelids swollen, cornea clear, pupils dilated conjunctivae-congested. Rigor mortis was established in the lower limbs and passing off from upper limbs. P.M. staining could not be made out due to dark complexion.

The margins of the above injuries were clean cut, upper and were wide, inner and in No. (1) and lower and in No. (2) were clean cut. The left thorasic cavity contained 250 C.C. blood. Surgical emphysema present pressing over the chest.

24. For the aforementioned reasons, the impugned judgment cannot be sustained. It is set aside accordingly and judgment of the trial court restored. The appeal is allowed. The appellant who is in custody is directed to be released forthwith unless wanted in connection with any other case.

December 12, 2008