MALLESHI Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant was convicted for offence punishable under Section 364 A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC'), and sentenced to life imprisonment by the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Chitradurga (hereinafter referred to as the 'trial court'). In appeal Karnataka High Court by the impugned judgment confirmed the conviction and sentence. It is to be noticed that four persons faced trial. Appellant-accused for the sake of convenience is described as A-1 and the co-accused as A2 to A4. They were acquitted by the trial court.

(2.) Accusations which led to the trial of the accused persons are as follows:

(3.) Trial court analysed the evidence of PW. 2 who was the main witness and whose abduction was alleged. PWs. 3 and 4 were also stated to have witnessed a part of the occurrence i.e. A 1 calling the victim PW-2 and their going together towards the vehicle. Though PW. 4 resiles from the statement made during investigation, his evidence corroborated that of PWs. 2 and 3 to the extent that he had seen PW. 2 going in the company of somebody towards the trax jeep. PWs. 6 and 11 were the drivers of the vehicle. They resiled from their statements recorded during investigation. Trial court took into account the evidence of PWs. 2 and 3 and the fact that the vehicle and the accused persons were confined by the villagers and they were arrested from the spot found the accused/appellant guilty while acquitting A-2 to A-4 as the evidence was not found sufficient to convict them.