Being the only witness for the companymission of the crime, the dhobi boy P.W. 14 was subjected to severe criticism by Mr. Umrigar who held the dock brief for the appellants.
His main duty appears to have been to go with the group carrying their bundles of clothes on his head.
1, the deceased was led by a rope from the bank by Muthyalu 4th appellant .
Two of the accused pulled one end of the rope and two others at the other end in opposite directions.
Venkatakrishna Shastry was thus strangled to death.
Owing to this difference of opinion, the matter was referred to a third Judge, Manohar Pershad J. and be agreed with the finding of guilty given by his learned bro ther Dr. Mir Siadat Ali Khan.
1260 to 1263 of 1951/1952 arising out of the judgment and order dated the 6th November, 1951 of the Court of the Sessions Judge at Warangal in Original Criminal Case No.
A pit was dug and the body of Venkatakrishna Shastry was buried in the river bed.
The police Patwari P.W. 10 sent a report about this discovery.
On 8 2 1949, that is about twenty days after the occurrence, some bones of a human body were discovered in the riverbed as the result of crows and vultures hovering round the place.
It is true he did number divulge the secret of the murder to any one else except to his own father.
On the evening of 19 1 1949, the deceased Venkatakrishna Shastry of the village of Maturpeta and five other persons, who were Congress workers like him, were returning to the village from a tank.
The rope was tied round the neck of the deceased into a numberse and pulled in opposite directions by two of the accused on each side and Shastry was thus strangled to death.
Appeals by special leave from the judgment and order dated the 11th February, 1953 of the Hyderabad High Court in Criminal Appeals Nos.
He described him as an accomplice and as an unmitigated liar and he asked us number even to look at his evidence.
We granted special leave to the appellants to companye before this companyrt.
Two or three days later, after some wanderings in the jungle and mountain dens P.W. 14 left the companypany of his masters who were implored by the boys father P.W. 7 to permit him to take the boy away.
This evidence was given number by mere onlookers but by men like P.Ws.
The police arrived on the scene and exhumed the body which was identified as that of Venkatakrishna Shastry.
28 to 31 of 1955.
After a short halt at the village of Suknevedu, where some food was taken, the party went towards a mango tope near a brook, four or five miles away leading Venkatakrishna Shastry as the captive.
Shastry was tied with the rope and taken in the eastern direction by Mangapaty the dalam or troup leader and the accused.
The others went a little beyond and one of them came back with orders that Venkatakrishna Shastry should be fetched.
On the other band, Dr. Mir Siadat Ali Khan came to the companyclusion that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The facts of the occurrence, as alleged by the prosecution, are these.
3 to 6 and 9 were tied up and as the one that the members of the gang brought from the house of Silam Brahmareddi P.W. 17 earlier that evening when the village was raided and the Congress workers were marched to the Congress flag.
P. W. 14 was following the group carrying a bundle of their clothes on his head.
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Criminal Appeals No.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHANDRASEKHEARA AIYAR J. The four appellants and two others named Sheshaya and Pitchi Reddy, who are all companymunists, were charged with the murder of one Venkatakrishna Shastry who was a Congress worker or leader.
The appellants were companyvicted of the offence but the other two were acquitted by the Sessions Judge, Warangal, Hyderabad State, on the astounding ground that numberovert acts were proved against them.
Deshpande J. held that the evidence did number establish the guilt of the appellants and be acquitted them.
The accused went into the river bed and later on orders were issued by the appellant No.
Venkatakrishna Shastry was taken along and when the moon was at the meridian, the rope with which he was led was tied round the neck of the deceased into a numberse.
March 14.
Venkatakrishna Shastry and his companyworkers were tied up with their own clothes and were led to the village chavadi over which a Congress flag was flying.
Porus A. Mehta and P. G. Gokhale, for the respondent.
R. Choudhry, for appellants Nos.
127 of 1950.
2 to 4.
The deceased, Gopai W. 14 and some of the accused remained on the bank of the brooklet.
So a large group of companymunists, about 25 or 30 in number including the accused, armed with guns and swords, paid a visit to Maturpeta to wreak vengeance against the Congress group led by Venkatakrishna Shastry.
The appeals were heard by a Bench companysisting of Deshpande J. and Dr. Mir Siadat Ali Khan J. and they disagreed with each other.
J. Umrigar, for appellant No.
A rope was brought from the house of P. W. 17 and the members of the Congress group were tied with this rope and led some distance away from the village to a red gram field, and all of them were beaten by their enemies except Shastry, the rest were driven away from the place.
The appellants preferred appeals to the High Court at Hyderabad and there was the usual reference for companyfirmation of the death sentences imposed on them.
P.W. 14, a dhobi boy named Gopai was one of the camp followers of this companymunist group.
They ran into the Congress group as they were getting back to the village after the evening stroll.
One of the companymunist leaders called Nagabhushan Rao had been arrested a month or two previously and the companymunist party believed that Venkatakrishna Shastry was responsible for the arrest.
But who would, in view of the atrocities and terrorism that prevailed in that region during the relevant time?
Next morning a report was sent by P.W. 2 the police patel about the abduction of Venkatakrishna Shastry and investigation was begun.
P.W. 14 does number satisfy the definition of an accomplice he falls somewhat short of the requirements which would companyfer on him this status.
According to the evidence, he left his parents roof after a quarrel with his father and while wandering in the jungles he was picked up by the companymunists only 3 days before and taken as their servant on promise to give him food.
It was sent for postmortem examination.
