CHAVA ANKAMA RAO Vs. STATE OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Out of the eleven chargesheeted accused persons, two, namely, chava Subbarao (accused No. 4) and chukkapalli Suraiah (accused No. 11) died before the commencement of trial and Daruvuri nageswararao (accused No. 7) absconded himself and his trial was separated, as such remaining eight accused persons were tried and by judgment rendered by the trial court, they were convicted under Section 148 of the Penal Code and each one of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 200/-, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month; they were further convicted under section 304 Part I/149 of the Penal Code and out of them, Chava Ankama Rao (accused no. l) , Chava Bhadraiah (accused No. 2) , Chava narasimharao (accused No. 3) , Chava Sreenu (accused No. 5) and Vempati Prasad (accused no. 9) were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months whereas Chava Pullaiah (accused No. 6) , Vempati Narayana (accused no. 8) and Vempati Venkateswarlu (accused no. 10) were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months. Chava Pullaiah (accused no. 6) was further convicted under Section 324 of the Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 100/-, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of one month. All the sentences, however, were ordered to run concurrently.

(2.) The convicted accused persons preferred two appeals before the High Court of andhra Pradesh whereas an appeal was preferred by the State of Andhra Pradesh making a grievance that trial court was not justified in convicting the accused under Section 304 Part i/149 of the Penal Code rather they should have been convicted under Section 302/149 of the Penal Code. Similar grievance was made by Daruvuri Subbarao (PW 2) , brother-in-law of the deceased, by filing a revision application before the High Court. So far as conviction of chava Ankama Rao (accused No. 1) , Chava bhadraiah (accused No. 2) , Chava Narasimha rao (accused No. 3) and Vempati Prasad (accused No. 9) is concerned, the High Court was of the view that the trial court committed an error in convicting them under Section 304 part 1/149 of the Penal Code. Accordingly, they have been convicted under Section 302/ 149 of the Penal Code and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. Their conviction and sentence under Section 148 of the penal Code, however, have been confirmed. So far as A-5, A-6, A-8 and A-10 are concerned, the High Court acquitted them of all the charges.

(3.) Against the order of their conviction, a-l, A-2, A-3 and A-9 preferred appeal to this court by special leave which gave rise to Criminal Appeal No. 1122 of 2002, whereas the state of Andhra Pradesh preferred another appeal by special leave giving rise to Criminal appeal No. 137 of 2004 against the order of acquittal of A-5, A-6, A-8 and A-10 who are respondent Nos. 1 to 4 respectively in the said appeal, and out of whom, as Vempati venkateswarlu (respondent No. 4) died during the pendency of the appeal, the same abated against him. As such, the said appeal has to be considered only in relation to the remaining three respondents.