Case: A.N. Venkatesh  Vs. State Of Karnataka

2. In brief, the prosecution case is that on 19th of May 1996 at about 9.00 AM, a minor boy named Madhu left his house for going to his fathers shop. It was vacation time for the Schools. In the afternoon when the father, M.K. Krishnamurthy, PW-7 returned home for lunch and enquired about his son, as he had not come to the shop, till evening family waited for return of the boy and thereafter the search began. Various telephone calls were made to the relatives and enquiries were made from other places where the boy was expected to have gone. Again in the next morning search was made for Madhu but he was not traced and as such at about 1.00 P.M. on 20th May 1996, PW-2, M.K. Prakash, uncle of Madhu lodged the first missing complaint in Hosadurga Police Station. The police registered the complaint as Crime No.99/96 on the same day. Thimmanna, PW-1, another Uncle of Madhu went to the house of Prakash, whose house is near the house of Krishnamurthy, PW-7. At about 2.30 PM or 2.45 PM, a telephone call was received on Telephone No.8537 at the house of PW-2 M.K. Prakash which was picked up by PW-1 Thimanna. He heard one male voice saying that he knew that they are in search of Madhu and that Madhu is in their custody, he will be released if the ransom amount of Rs.50,000/- is paid. It was said that the ransom amount of Rs.50,000/- is to be thrown in a bundle on the tracks of the railways running between Arasikere and Beerur before 5.00 P.M. After receipt of this telephonic call, PW-1 immediately rushed to the Police Station and lodged a complaint at about 3.00 PM. On this, the P.S.I. Shri B.S. Rajashekhar, PW-16, deputed A.S.I. Shri M.G. Gangadharappa, PW-17. and one P.C. Constable Rudriah to make a search of the missing boy. PW- 2, Prakash along with his brother Srinivas and the police officials proceeded in a Taxi to Arsikere in search of the boy. They reached Arsikere at about 5.00 PM. Thereafter enquiries were made at the S.T.D. Booths at Arsikere for finding out from where the call was made and to trace the person who made the call to Hosadurga. Two STD booth owners informed that the calls were made from their booth to Hosadurga by two boys and one of the S.T.D. Booth owners informed the police party that the telephone to Hosadurga was made by two boys from his telephone booth at about 2.30 O clock. Thereafter the police party along with PW-2 went to Arasikere Railway Station and proceeded towards Beerur along the railway track. When they proceeded about two and a half to three kilometers, they saw two boys coming in their direction along the railway track at about 6.30 or 6.40 PM. When the boys reached near them, it was noticed by PW- 2 that one of them Venkatesh, A-1, is his relative. On seeing the police party along with other persons those two boys started running away. However, they were chased and caught. Those accused persons, according to PW-2, volunteered that they had kidnapped Madhu and that they would show the place from where the dead body can be recovered. From there they were brought to police station when it was about 10.00 P.M. Both the accused persons were put up in the police lock up. During the night intervening 20th/21st May 1996 they were interrogated and their disclosure statements were recorded which are Exhibits P-15 and P16 in which they volunteered to take the police and others to the place where they have buried the dead body of Madhu. The police party along with accused and others proceeded towards Vedavathi river bank wherefrom dead body of Madhu was exhumed from the sand at the bank of the Vedavathi river from the spot pointed out by the accused persons. The post mortem was conducted by PW-3 Dr. Ravikar on 21st May who found the following injuries on the body :1. There was haemorrhage in the sub-tutaneous tissue and in the muscles of the neck in the region of hyoid and thyroid cartilage;2. There was haemorrhage in the retro pharyngael tissue at the base of the tongue;3. There was sub-mucus haemorrhage in the larynx; and4. Sheath and intima of the carotid artery are lacerated with effusion of blood in the walls3. The doctor opined that the death was due to asphyxia as a result of throttling4. The accused persons faced trial and were acquitted by the Sessions Court. In appeal, the acquittal of the accused was set aside by the High Court and they were, as aforementioned, convicted.

Court's reasoning:
The argument of the learned counsel is built upon the premises that the complainant party had decided to pay the ransom and to follow the instructions of payment of ransom amount by throwing it at the identified spot from the train. We have already discussed the evidence of the witnesses from where we find that the complainant party and the police have already decided not to pay the ransom amount but to apprehend the accused persons at the spot indicated by them for payment of amount. When the decision was taken there was no reason at all, to travel by train and follow the instructions. The course adopted by the complainants and the police party by travelling in a vehicle was in conformity with the decision taken by the police party and the complainant, was in natural course of conduct.Each and every incriminating circumstance has been established by reliable and clinching evidence and we have reached to an irresistible conclusion that inference can be drawn from proved circumstances that the accused appellants were involved in the crime and are guilty. We do not find any infirmity in the judgment of the High Court and appreciation of the evidence led by the prosecution by it and the inference drawn there from. The acquittal by the trial court was rightly held to be unjustified.