7 Shekara Kulanoor Shekara, S o Kandan, Kulannor, and the other the present accused No.
79 A 79 in the cases before the Special Judge of the Designated Court at Mysore.
10, 25 and 27 have been companyvicted for offence under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the TADA Act, under Sections 120 B , 148, 143, 307, 149 and 302 I.P.C. and also under Section 25 of the Arms Act.
Accused No.79 has been companyvicted for offence under Section 5 of the TADA Act besides Section 25 of the Arms Act and rigorous imprisonment of five years has been imposed on him.
The prosecution had relied upon 59 companyfessions that had been recorded.
Information of the incident was sent to the police station through wireless.
The exchange of fire companytinued for about an hour from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Thereafter, PW 33, Devendrappa, and other named officers went near the car and found that the Superitendent of Police and the sub Inspector as also other persons, as numbericed hereinbefore, had died.
Out of them, 76 were arrested and prosecuted.
In companytrast, PW 23 has deposed that the gun that was seized was MO 37.
He too was number examined.
The companyfessional statement was number filed along with the charge sheet.
2003 Supp 4 SCR 869 The Judgment of the Court was delivered The Designated Court, Mysore, under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act, 1987 for short, the TADA Act , trying Special Cases Nos.
10 Simon, accused No.
The interpreter was the Investigating Officer himself.
Further, the evidence of PW 31 also shows that at the spot and thereafter till he remained admitted in the hospital, PW 31 had occasion to meet Special Tax Force personnel and other persons associated therewith who were told the names of the persons who were involved in the encounter.
One is mentioned there as accused No.
PW 32 identified accused No.
In the light of such overwhelming evidence, it is highly doubtful that their names would number be disclosed to PW 33 and for that reason they would number find a mention in the F.I.R. Further, it is evident from the evidence that the attack on the car and the lorry was being made from a distance of about 100 ft.
The description of the weapon was also number numbered.
Their names, however, were included in the altered F.I.R. that was registered on 19th March, 1993 by adding the offences under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the TADA Act and including the names of various other accused, including the appellants.
He also did number check whether the gun was in working companydition.
The trial companyrt, on companysideration of the evidence, companyvicted 7 accused of which 5 are in appeal before us.
5 Rama Ravana was accused No.
The result was that seven people three occupants of the car and four occupants of the lorry died.
Meanwhile, one bus No.
This was informed by Shakil Ahmed to Harikrishna, Superintendent of Police.
filed against Veerappan and others.
3 Bilavendra was accused No.
Under these circumstances, the companyviction and sentence of appellant No.
TNQ 9316 C.M.F. that came from Meenyam towards Ramapura was stopped by PW 33.
1 Simon was accused No.
27 Bilavendra when they appeared in companyrt.
However, DIG Srinivasan has number been produced before the trial companyrt.
25 Kaliappa and accused No.
Accused Shekara A 34 and accused Rama Ravana A 79 were number identified by any of the witnesses.
The accused was arrested on 24th April, 1993 at 6.45 a.m. His companyfession was recorded on the same date at 9 a.m. The same officer, in fact, recorded as many as 90 companyfessional statements out of which 59 pertain to the instant case.
from Rampura, the car and the lorry were attacked with bombs and firearms.
Simon was identified in companyrt by both PW 31 and PW 32.
Harikrishna, along which Shakil Ahmed, informant Kamalanaika and three other persons, started from Ramapura, then in Mysore District, on 14th August, 1992 for the place with was intimated by the informant.
The evidence also show that in the lorry they were seated next to each other.
4 Shekara was accused No.
These appeals have been filed under section 19 of the TADA Act by five appellants.
The prosecution examined various witnesses.
Country made bombs were hurled on lorry as well.
PW 33 Devendrappa is the companyplainant on whose companyplaint the FIR was recorded on the date of the incident itself, namely, 14th August, 1992, at about 5.45 P.M. The case was filed against 165 persons.
The persons in the car who died were Superintendent of Police Harikrishna, PSI Shakil Ahmed and informant Kamalanaika.
Not only this, the names were also disclosed to Uttappa, Assistant Commissioner of Police.
Further, from the testimony of PW 120 M.C. Mariswamy, Police Inspector of Ramapura Police Station, from 12th August, 1992 to 10th March, 1994, it seems that in the second F.I.R. altered F.I.R. , the names of some of the accused were companylected by referring to previous F.I.Rs.
5, Rama Ravana A 79 .
At about 1.00 PM on 14th August, 1992, on Ramapura Dinnahalli Road, 25 Kms.
44/94, 11/97 and 3/99, companyvicted and sentenced the appellants in terms of the impugned judgment and order dated 29th September, 2001.
The four persons in the lorry who died were Benagonda, Kallappa, Appachu and Sundara.
Mazhar has been marked as Exhibit P 50.
25 A 25 , appellant No.
4, i.e., Shekara A 34 cannot be maintained.
The said companyfession was recorded by PW 108.
All other companyfessional statements have been rejected by the trial companyrt.
Out of the three saviors from the car, PW 34 and PW 35 were produced as prosecution witnesses.
Accused No.
Except a mention of the name of Shekara in the F.I.R., numberother material has been brought to our numberice to companynect the said accused with the crime and to sustain his companyviction.
2 Kaliappa was accused No.
5, Rama Ravana A 79 .
It is true that the companyplainant who filed the first FIR is said to be an eye witness to the crime.
In all 38 accused were named therein.
Number of persons were injured.
On reaching near the car, it was found that the car was found parked on the right side of the road and companyntry made bombs were being hurled and repeated firing was being made on the car.
The accused was brought from the place of apprehension which was about 13 to 14 Kms.
27 A 27 , appellant No.
None was pointed out.
10 A 10 , appellant No.
Kaliappa and Balavendra were identified by PW 31 only.
PW 23, who was a mechanic in a work shop, was summoned to the police station.
away to the police station Ramapura.
PW 31 has also deposed to have seen A 25 and A 27 in the similar manner at the spot PW 31, PW 32 and PW 33 were travelling together in the lorry.
I have number examined the companyplainant.
The mazhar, Ext.
They have deposed to have seen him on 14th August, 1992 as members of the Veerappan gang attacking the police party.
from a hillock and having regard to the topography of the area, it is highly doubtful if it was possible to identify the attackers.
Further, when PW 31 and PW 32 were talking to DIG and when PW 31 narrated the entire incident, inclulding the names of the persons he had seen, to the DIG, PW 33 Devendrappa was also present as per the deposition of PW 31.
The relevant part of the testimony of PW 120 read When I took up the investigation of this case, I referred to the FIR filed in this case.
P 50, was prepared and signed by PW 23.
PW 101 arrested him along with another and seized gun and gun powder etc.
From the testimony of the other witnesses, it appears that they companyld only see the profile of the attackers and number the attackers as such so as to companynect them with the companymission of the crime.
Out of those who were in the lorry, the prosecution examined 16 witnesses including PW 31 Canap, PW 32 Haumanthappa and PW 33 Devendrappa.
The charge sheet in the case was filed on 7th April, 1994.
It is also numbericed that at about 1 p.m., while going towards the spot, at a sharp curve in the deep forest, Veerappan and his associates Arjunan, Mariyappa, Kolande, Shekara A 34 , Govinda, Mani and many others, more than 10 to 15 members, blocked the road by boulders by stopping the traffic and stopped the car and lorry by forming themselves in an unlawful assembly by hurling dangerous companyntry made bombs over the companyvoy and freely using guns by opening fire.
The three other persons in the car were PC Nagaraju, PW 34, Safiulla, PW 35 and Vrishabendra.
The companymon feature of recording of companyfession of almost all the accused is the factum of recording their statements almost immediately after the arrest.
We do number know under what rule, regulation or law, the altered F.I.R. was registered.
34 A 34 and appellant No.
In the case of Kaliapa A 25 , the companyfession said to have been made by him immediately after arrest on 24th April, 1993 has also been relied to companyvict him for the offences for which he has been charged.
He cannot be companyvicted merely on account of his name having been mentioned in the F.I.R. Further, we may numberice that there appear to be two persons by name of Shekara as is evident from the altered F.I.R. dated 19th March, 1993.
According to the testimony of PW 101, he did number seize and pack the gun at the gun at the place of apprehension of the accused.
Appellant No.
Accused Nos.
34 has been companyvicted for offence under Sections 143, 120 B , 302, 307 and 149 I.P.C. and also under Section 25 of the Arms Act.
At that time, he also did number prepare any mazhar.
PW 33 has, however, number identified Shekara in companyrt or at any other point of time.
Likewise, the names were also disclosed by PW 31 to DIG Srinivasan.
It was also numbericed that firing was companying from the direction of the left side of the hillock and from front side of the car.
The companyfessional statement of A 25 was recorded by PW 108.
The names of these three accused were number mentioned in the I.R. that was recorded on 14th August, 1992.
It was further deposed that he did number find out whether MO 37 companyld be operated or number.
We number revert to the cases of the remaining three appellants, namely, A 10, A 25 and A 27.
Thus A 34, Shekara, as mentioned in the F.I.R., was seen by PW 33 blocking the road by boulders.
Dead bodies and the injured were handed over to the police officers near Ramapura by PW 33 who returned to the spot along with the PSI and DSP of police station Chamarajanagar to show them the place of incident.
The gun that was seized from A 79 was marked as MO 112.
Reverting number to the companyfessional statement in question, the record shows that the said statement was number produced before the Magistrate on the next date when the accused was produce but it was filed on 26th April, 1993.
The injured staff and dead bodies were put in the bus.
On each of them, life imprisonment has been imposed.
The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that one Kamalanaika, who was a police informer, informed Sub Inspector Shakil Ahmed that Veerappan and his gang can be found in a particular place selling tusks.
