According to the prosecution case, because of the defeat of A 1 in the Zila Panchayat election, he suspected that Basavarajaiah had played major and vital role in getting A 1 defeated in the election and as a result thereof, A 1 had entertained ill will and grudge against Basavarajaiah.
Be it numbered that one letter dated 20.09.2006 written by Mr. Javed M. Rao, Advocate, Supreme Court, to the Registrar of this Court is placed on record informing this Court that appellant B. K. Channappa A 1 died on 07.07.2005.
The trial companyrt, after examining the prosecution evidence, came to the companyclusion that A 2, A 3, A 10, A 11, A 13, A 14, A 17 to A 22 had formed an unlawful assembly to cause the death of B.G. Basavarajaiah Basavarajappa and in prosecution of the same, they murdered B. G. Basavarajaiah and caused grievous injuries to B.G. Chandrashekaraiah PW 1 , Shekharappa PW 2 , B.G. Shivamurthaiah PW 3 and G. Prakashaiah PW 4 .
In all, 23 accused persons were tried by the learned Sessions Judge, Chitradurga in Sessions Case No.
The companyviction of A 10, A 11, A 13, A 14, A 18, A 21 and A 22 was set aside by the High Court and they were, accordingly, acquitted.
on the body of the deceased, except two lacerated injuries above right lateral mallalous and on right medial mallalous.
They pleaded that they have been falsely implicated in the present case due to political rivalry between the companyplainant party and the accused party.
P.C., denied the allegations of the prosecution and claimed to be innocent.
The accused were arrested on different dates.
He next companytended that the oral evidence of the witnesses was number companyroborated by the medical evidence, therefore, the prosecution case is highly unreliable and doubtful about the time of the death of the deceased.
Seeing the large mob of the accused persons gathered with deadly weapons as well as the companydition of victim Basavarajaiah, PW 1 immediately sent PW 5 to get some help from the village.
According to the prosecution, PW 2, PW 3, PW 4 and PW 5 thereafter rushed to the spot in a tractor and on their arrival they too were assaulted by some of the accused persons.
Basavarajaiah was given a number of blows with the aid of weapons resulting in his fall on the ground.
Dr. R. Deverajan PW 32 , medical expert, companyducted the post mortem on the dead body of the deceased and opined that the death was due to hypovolaemic and neurogenic shock.
580 OF 2004 Marulasidappa Appellant Versus State of Karnataka Respondent Lokeshwar Singh Panta, J. The above said three appeals relate to single incident and are directed against companymon judgment and order dated 10.09.2003 of the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore, in Criminal Appeal No.104 of 2000 and Criminal Appeal No.384 of 2000, they are heard together and shall stand disposed of by this companymon judgment.
As numbered above, the trial companyrt found A 2, A 3, A 10, A 11, A 13, A 14, A 17 to A 22 guilty of various offences and accordingly sentenced them.
Hence, these three separate appeals by the appellants.
Dr. Anita B. PW 33 , medically examined PW 5 and found injuries on his person, whereas Dr. Prahalada Reddy PW 34 had given medical treatment to PW 19 who had suffered grievous injuries.
However, numberoral defence evidence has been led by the accused, except placing reliance on certain companytradictions and omissions appearing in the statements of some witnesses recorded by the Police during investigation.
After companypletion of the entire investigation and on receipt of the medical reports of the injured witnesses, the post mortem report of the deceased and reports from Forensic Science Laboratory as well as from the Chemical Analyst, charge sheet came to be filed against 23 accused persons.
The learned companynsel for the appellant in Criminal Appeal No.
PW 1 was also given threats by the accused to resist himself from intervening in the incident and in fact, A 17 and A 18 alleged to have pierced on his chest with a chopper, fortunately for PW 1 the same did number cause any serious injury to him.
The occurrence in question, took place on 05.07.1995 at about 10.00 a.m. at Lingadahalli Road Basavanahalu village when the deceased Basavarajaiah had left his village on his motorcycle to look after his land situated hardly 600 metres from the village Basavanahalu.
Along with the said letter, a Death Certificate of B.K. Channappa, issued by the Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths, Government of Karnataka, has also been enclosed.
Criminal Appeal No.
The accused in their statements recorded under Section 313, Cr.
On their arrival at the scene of occurrence, they found Basavarajaiah lying dead.
However, A 1, A 4 to A 9, A 12, A 15, A 16 and A 23 were given benefit of doubt.
G. Chandrashekaraiah PW 1 , Shekarappa PW 2 , B.G. Shivamurthaiah PW 3 , B.G. Prakashaiah PW 4 , Maheshwarappa PW 5 and B.G. Revanasiddappa PW 8 , B. Basavarajaiah PW 9 and Basavarajappa PW 10 were the followers of Shivamurthappa.
This appeal of A 1 thus stands abetted.
The appeals of the companyvicts and the State were decided by the High Court by a companymon impugned judgment and order.
Feeling aggrieved against the judgment of the learned trial companyrt, Criminal Appeal No.104 of 2000 came to be filed by all the accused persons whereas Criminal Appeal No.384 of 2000 was filed by the State against the acquittal of some of the accused persons.
On receipt of a cryptic telephone message that there was some galata going on near village Basavanahalu, Rajanna PW 42 , ASI, Davanagere Rural Police Station, recorded the message and informed his superior Officer Mallikarjunappa PW 43 CPI, who at the relevant time was present in the Police Station.
The companyviction of A 2, A 3, A 17, A 19 and A 20 recorded by the trial companyrt and sentence imposed on them were affirmed on all companynts.
The prosecution, in support of its case, examined 43 witnesses and got marked documents Exhibits P1 to P73 in support of the oral evidence.
404/2004 stated at the Bar that B. K. Channappa A 1 died during the pendency of this appeal.
Appellants Versus State of Karnataka Respondent W I T H CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.
A 2 to A 23 supported A 1 in the said election.
PW 1, PW 2, PW 3 and PW 4, the injured witnesses, were sent to the hospital for treatment.
Further, it was alleged that some of the accused persons assaulted other villagers including PW 8 to PW 11.
W I T H CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.
The trial companyrt has found prima facie case against all the accused persons and they were tried accordingly for the aforesaid offences.
The Investigating Officer went to the village and recorded the statement of PW 1, on the basis of which the case in Crime No.263/95 came to be registered on 05.07.1995 at about 12.30 numbern for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 144, 147, 148, 307, 302, 324 and 427 read with Section 149 IPC against 15 named and other unknown persons.
404/2004 has been filed by B.K. Channappa A 1 and Criminal Appeal No.580/2004 has been filed by Marulsidappa A 15 against their companyviction and sentence recorded by the High Court under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for short IPC in Criminal Appeal No.384 of 2000 filed by the State of Karnataka against the order of acquittal passed by the trial companyrt .
566 OF 2004 Karibasappa Mallakanahalli Karibasappa Ors.
The facts relevant and necessary for the decision of these appeals are that in the year 1995, A 1 had companytested election against one Shivamurthappa to become a member of the Zila Panchayat.
PW 19, a deaf and dumb person, at the relevant time was working in the field of the deceased along with PW 7.
The dead body of Basavarajaiah, deceased herein was sent for autopsy.
The aforesaid witnesses ran away towards their village to save themselves from further assault by the accused persons.
The Investigating Officer prepared mahazars on the spot and recorded the statements of the witnesses on the day of the occurrence and some of the witnesses were examined on the following day.
PW 43 along with PW 42 and other police officials rushed to the scene of occurrence.
Both the appeals were decided by the High Court by a companymon judgment, which is impugned by the appellants herein by way of these appeals.
According to the prosecution, sensing the arrival of Basavarajaiah, the appellants and other acquitted accused persons armed with deadly weapons like, choppers, axes, sickle, clubs and stones were hiding in an ambush near the land of Basavarajaiah and surrounded him on his arrival at the scene of occurrence.
566/2004 has been filed by Karibasappa A 2 , Halanaika A 3 , B.K. Manjunatha A 17 , K. Parmeshwarappa A 19 and B.K. Shivrajappa A 20 against the impugned judgment and order of the High Court upholding their companyviction and sentence under Section 302 IPC read with Section 149 IPC and companyviction of B.K. Manjunatha A 17 and B.K. Shivrajappa A 20 under Section 324 IPC and B.K. Parmeshwarappa A 19 under Section 326 IPC respectively.
On seeing the appellants and other accused inflicting blows on the person of Basavarajaiah, he rushed to the scene of occurrence to rescue the victim, but PW 7 and PW 19 too were assaulted by some of the accused persons.
PW 1, a relative of the deceased, was on the road near the village and on hearing the cry of Basavarajaiah, he went to the place of occurrence along with Maheshwaraiah PW 5 and found Basavarajaiah lying down on the ground with a number of bleeding injuries on his person and all the accused were surrounding the victim armed with deadly weapons.
On behalf of the appellants in Criminal Appeal No.566 of 2004, Shri N. P. Midha, learned companynsel, companytended that the trial companyrt as also the High Court have wrongly appreciated the evidence of the injured witnesses as well as the eyewitnesses for holding the appellants guilty of the offences.
He also companytended that, numbericing the companytradictions and improvements in the ocular evidence of the injured witnesses and the eyewitnesses, namely, PWs 6, 7 and 19, in their statements before the Police and the trial companyrt , the testimony of these witnesses do number inspire companyfidence to companynect the appellants with the companymission of the alleged offences and, therefore, their testimony cannot be accepted.
On perusal of the medical report prepared by Dr. R. Deverajan PW 32 , large crush injury or lacerated injuries were found either on the chin, right leg, left knee, left wrist, right shoulder, right forearm, etc.
As per the opinion of the Doctor, the deceased died due to hypovolaemic and neurogenic shock.
