State by Inspector of Police/SHO, Basaveshwaranagar Police Station, Bangalore
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1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE DATED THIS THE 4TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2014 PRESENT THE HON’BLE Dr. JUSTICE K.BHAKTHAVATSALA AND THE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE K.N.KESHAVANARAYANA CRIMINAL APPEAL No.872/2008 (A) BETWEEN : State by Inspector of Police/SHO, Basaveshwaranagar Police Station, Bangalore. ... Appellant [By Sri. B.T. Venkatesh, State Public Prosecutor-II] AND : 1. Yogesh @ Yogi, Aged about 32 years, S/o. Sri. Papanna, Residing at No.180, 5 th Cross, Indiranagar, West of Chord Road, Bangalore. 2. R. Kumar @ Ramegowda @ Gowda, Aged about 33 years, S/o. Sri.T. Ramaiah, Residing at No.40/54, III Cross, Indiranagar, 2 West of Chord Road, Bangalore. 3. D. Raja @ T.T. Raja, Aged about 29 years, S/o. Sri. Dharma, Residing at No.302, 7 th Cross, Indiaranagar, Bangalore. 4. G. Raja @ Badrehalli Raja, Aged about 31 years, S/o. Sri. R. Gopal, Residing at 14 th Cross, Indiranagar, West of Chord Road, Bangalore. …Respondents [By Sri.S. Shankarappa, Advocate for R1 & R2, Smt. N. Padmavathi, Advocate for R3 & R4] This Criminal Appeal is filed under Section 378(1) & (3) of the Cr.P.C. praying to grant leave to file an appeal against the judgment and order of acquittal dated 25.04.2008 in S.C. No.862/2005 on the file of the Presiding Officer, Fast Track Court-II, Bangalore, acquitting the respondents/accused for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 341 read with Section 34 of IPC. Reserved on : 24.01.2014 Pronounced on : 04.02.2014 This Criminal Appeal being heard and reserved for Judgment, coming on for ‘Pronouncement of Judgment’ this day, Keshavanarayana, J. , delivered the following: 3 J U D G M E N T This appeal by the State is directed against the Judgment and Order dated 25.04.2008 passed by the Presiding Officer, Fast Track Court-II, Bangalore City, in S.C. No.862/2005 acquitting Respondents/Accused Nos. 1 to 4 of the charges levelled against them for the offence punishable under Section 302 r/w. 34 of IPC. 2. During the course of judgment, the respondents herein would be referred to as Accused Nos. 1 to 4, the rank which they held before the Trial Court. 3. The case of the prosecution in brief is as under:- The deceased Ramakrishna was carrying on business in finance and he was also running a Fair Price Depot for distribution of the ration as well as kerosene. Accused No.2-Kumar was working under the deceased Ramakrishna and was in-charge of the business and he was also collecting money from the borrowers. Accused No.1-Yogesh @ Yogi is a close friend of Accused No.2 and 4 was regularly visiting Accused No.2 and was assisting Accused No.2 in carrying on the business. PW.7- Gurupathy is a friend of the deceased Ramakrishna and was running the business in shares. The deceased Ramakrishna had purchased 260 shares and was to pay Rs.26,000/- p.m. to PW.7 and after completion of the required period, PW.7 was to pay Rs.9,40,000/- to the deceased Ramakrishna. There was a sub-dealing between the deceased Ramakrishna and Accused No.1, whereunder, Accused No.1 had purchased 70 shares out of 260 shares purchased by the deceased Ramakrishna and towards that Accused No.1 was paying Rs.7,000/- p.m. to the deceased Ramakrishna and Accused No.2 was paying Rs.26,000/-p.m. to PW.7 in the name of the deceased. When the matter stood thus, Accused Nos. 1 & 2 by misusing the liberty given by deceased Ramakrishna, misappropriated the amount to the tune of nearly Rs.4 lakhs out of the business transactions. When the said fact came to the notice of the deceased Ramakrishna, he removed Accused No.2 from service, cautioned Accused 5 Nos. 1 & 2 not to step into his house. In addition to this, the deceased Ramakrishna recovered Rs.1,50,000/- from Accused Nos.1 & 2 forcibly and was continuously pressing for recovery of the balance amount. As a result of this, Accused Nos.1 & 2 started nurturing ill-will against the deceased Ramakrishna and were openly claiming that they would kill Ramakrishna. In the meanwhile, the deposit period of share business with PW.7 came to an end and the deceased Ramakrishna collected the entire amount since the shares were standing in his name. Accused Nos. 1 & 2 approached PW.7 and demanded the amount, to which Accused No.1 was entitled to. However, PW.7 directed them to approach the deceased Ramakrishna, who refused to pay any amount to Accused No.1 stating that he has appropriated that amount towards the amount due to him. This enraged Accused Nos. 1 & 2 further and they also threatened even PW.7 with injury to his life stating that both the deceased Ramakrishna and PW.7 have colluded with each other. In that regard, PW.12-G. Srinivas, son of 6 PW.7 had also lodged a complaint against Accused Nos. 1 & 2 before the jurisdictional police. In the morning of 08.06.2005, PW.8-Rajanna came to the house of the deceased Ramakrishna and requested Ramakrishna to help in admission of his daughter to Indian School, for which, deceased Ramakrishna agreed. Immediately, the deceased Ramakrishna contacted the Principal of the Indian School over phone and asked PW.8 to meet him in the afternoon. Accordingly, at about 12.30 p.m., PW.8 came to the house of the deceased Ramakrishna on his motor cycle. Thereafter, the deceased Ramakrishna and his son deceased Naveenkumar went to Indian School on a motor cycle, while PW.8 followed them. After meeting the authorities in the school and arranging for admission, the deceased persons left the school, while PW.8 stayed back to complete the formalities regarding admission. While two deceased persons were proceeding on the 15 th Main Road, Basaveshwaranagar, the accused came there on motor cycle, dashed against the motor cycle ridden by the deceased Naveen Kumar, fell them on the ground and 7 thereafter, they assaulted the deceased Ramakrishna and killed him. At that juncture, when the deceased Naveen Kumar tried to escape by running away from that place, he was chased and was also assaulted. PW.25-B.K. Naveen Kumar and his friend (CW.5) while proceeding on a motor cycle saw the incident of assault on both the deceased persons. PW.27-Srikanta and PW.28- Meghanath, who were proceeding on a motor cycle at that place, saw Accused Nos. 1, 3 & 4 assaulting Naveen Kumar and Accused No.2 standing by the side of the dead body of Ramakrishna. Some one informed PW.8-Rajanna about the incident over phone. Immediately, PW.8 came there, saw the deceased Ramakrishna lying dead and Naveen Kumar struggling with injuries. Immediately, PW.8 with the help of others shifted the injured to Panacea Hospital. By that time, PW.2-Prakash, the nephew of the deceased Ramakrishna was informed about Ramakrishna lying dead in pool of blood on the main road. Immediately PW2 along with PW.4–Smt. Gowramma, wife and PW.5-Kum. Hemavathi, daughter of deceased 8 Ramakrishna went to the place where Ramakrishna was lying dead and at that stage, they were informed about Naveen Kumar also having suffered injuries and having been taken to Panacea Hospital. Therefore, they went to the hospital and saw the dead body of Naveen Kumar in Panacea Hospital. Thereafter PW.2 went to jurisdictional Police Station and lodged a report as per Ex.P2 alleging that his uncle Ramakrishna and his cousin Naveen Kumar have been murdered by Accused Nos. 1 & 2 with the help of their associates in the background of the dispute regarding monetary transaction. On the basis of the report lodged by PW.2, PW.31-Shivalingegowda, Police Inspector, registered case in Crime No.219/2005 against Accused Nos. 1 & 2 and others for the aforesaid offences and took-up investigation. 4. During investigation, PW.31 held inquest over the dead body of Ramakrishna at the spot, seized incriminating materials found at the scene of occurrence including three draggers said to have been used in the 9 commission of offences and thereafter conducted inquest over the dead body of Naveen Kumar in Panacea Hospital, recorded the statements of witnesses, which revealed the complicity of Accused Nos. 1 to 4 for the murder of both the deceased persons, subjected the dead bodies to post- mortem examination, apprehended Accused Nos. 1 to 4 from a form house, at which time, one dragger was recovered from a Rexene Bag in possession of Accused No.1. 5. After completion of investigation, PW.31 laid the charge sheet. Accused Nos. 1 to 4 on being produced before the jurisdictional Magistrate, were remanded to judicial custody and they continued to remain in custody during the trial of the case. 6. On committal of the case, before the learned Sessions Judge, accused pleaded not guilty for the charges levelled against them and claimed to be tried. 10 7. The prosecution in order to bring home the guilt of the accused persons, examined PWs. 1 to 31 and relied on documentary evidence-Exs.P.1 to P.24 and Material Objects- 1 to 18. During the cross-examination of PW.27, the accused got marked Ex.D1, a portion of statement said to have been made by the said witnesses before the Investigating Officer. 8. During examination under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. by the learned Sessions Judge, Accused Nos.