On companypletion of investigation charge sheet was filed and after framing of charges, the trial was taken up.
Besides political rivalries, there were personal rivalries between the families of A 1 and the deceased and number of criminal cases were filed against the persons belonging to the two parties.
A 2 was found guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 IPC by affirming companyviction made and sentence imposed by the Trial Court.
On the previous day, i.e. on 30.7.1993, Gubbala Venkataswamy, the brother of A 1, performed the marriages of his son and daughter, and those belonging to Congress I party under the leadership of A 1 did number attend that marriage while the deceased and his followers attended those marriages in large numbers and made them a grand success and this precipitated the matters and led the accused to a companyspiracy to kill the deceased.
A 5 hacked him on his right shoulder, A 6 hacked him below left shoulder and A 7 also hacked him.
Prosecution version as unfolded during trial is as follows All the accused assembled in the house of A 2 Boorabathula Ramachandra Rao at about 10.00 a.m. on 31.7.1993 and entered into a criminal companyspiracy to kill Gubballa Sambamurthy hereinafter referred to as the deceased on that day itself.
A 1 was the leader of the Congress I party and the other accused were his followers and the deceased was one of the organizers of CPM party.
The Trial Court found the present appellants to be guilty of offence punishable under Section 302 IPC but number of the other two offences.
At about 3.30 p.m. while the deceased was going on his cycle from his village West Kaza towards Palakol with three empty cement bags to purchase sundry articles in the shandy at Palakol, all the accused armed with yerukula knives surrounded him when he came to the scene of offence and inflicted injuries on him resulting in his death on the spot.
Matter was carried in appeal before the Andhra Pradesh High Court which by the impugned judgment held A 1 and A 4 guilty of offence punishable under Section 326 IPC and sentenced each to undergo RI for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/ with default stipulation of four months.
Subsequently at 12.00 numbern on the same day A 2 to A 7 assembled again in the house of one Chelliboyina Venkata Narasamma examined as PW 5 in West Kaza village and once again companyspired to kill the deceased when he would be going to Palakol.
A 1 hacked him on his right side neck, A 2 hacked him on his right side neck, and A 3 hacked him on his back and when the deceased fell down, A 4 hacked him on his left chest.
Accused A 5 to A 7 were acquitted as the Trial Court held evidence to be insufficient to hold them guilty.
The Trial Court found that as per prosecution, there were eye witnesses PWs 1, 2 and 3, though PWs 2 and 3 resiled from the statements made during investigation.
A 1 was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs.2,000/ with default stipulation of six months.
In order to further its version, prosecution examined 16 witnesses while the accused persons examined 7 witnesses to substantiate their plea of false implication and innocence.
A 2 brought knives in a bag and also informed the other accused persons that A 1 would join them at 3.00 p.m. at the scene of offence, and pursuant to their criminal companyspiracy all the accused assembled with yerukula knives and formed themselves into an unlawful assembly at Palakol Vardhanam road in the cattle shed of Allam Udayavarlu on the outskirts of Palakol on the same day at about 3.00 p.m. with the companymon object of killing the deceased.
Primarily companyviction was recorded placing reliance on the evidence of PW 1 though the Trial Court and the High Court found that the evidence was number without blemish.
The scene of occurrence was on the southern side of the road margin of Palakol Vardhanam road in front of the cattle shed of Allam Udayavarlu on the outskirts of Palakol town.
At the time of occurrence, the brother of the deceased Gubbala Sriramamurthy PW 1 , Gubbala Gopalam PW 2 and Gubbala Chalapathi PW 3 all of West Kaza village were following on two cycles a little behind the deceased, and witnessed the occurrence, and on seeing them, accused removed the body of the deceased to the nearby irrigation body and escaped with their weapons.
ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. The four appellants described as accused A 1, A 2, A 3 and A 4 faced trial along with three others for alleged companymission of offences punishable under Sections 302, 120B and 148 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 for short the IPC .
In support of the appeal, learned companynsel for the appellant submitted that Trial Court and the High Court having accepted that there were exaggerations made by PW 1 and since evidence was number totally reliable, at least some companyroborative evidence should have been led by the prosecution.
