KRISHNAMURTHY Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE three appeals arise from the judgment dated 22/23-1-1996 passed by the d additional sessions judge, Bangalore city, in S. C. No. 353 of 1992. Criminal appeal No. 151 of 1996 is filed by accused 1 challenging the order of conviction and sentence passed against him for the offences under sections 302 and 394 of the Indian Penal Code, whereas criminal appeal No. 748 of 1996 is filed by the state challenging the inadequacy of sentence against accused 1 by praying for enhancement of the sentence from imprisonment for life to death punishment and criminal appeal No. 749 of 1996 is also filed by the state challenging the acquittal of accused 2. Since common questions of law and facts are involved in all these appeals, they are heard together and disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) THE few facts necessary for consideration of the appeals are as follows: the deceased sunanda varadhan, aged 73 years and her mother rukamma, aged 90 years, who come from well to do family and having their children settled outside Bangalore, were staying at flat No. 201, first floor, richmond place, convent road, Bangalore. They were often engaging the services of accused 1 as part-time driver to take them in and around Bangalore. They had also engaged P. W. 3 (selvi) as maid servant. They were often calling personally or on phone their relatives including P. W. 6 (suvarna prasad, daughter of deceased sunanda), P. W. 8 [lakshmi, deceased rukamma's (cousin) sister], P. W. 19 (nagamani, niece of deceased rukamma) and P. W. 22 (dr. Xavier, a retired medical practitioner, who was staying in the same apartments and was said to be looking after the health of both deceased ). Similarly, P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar, whose daughter was married to the son of deceased sunanda) used to visit both sunanda and rukamma at their apartment and look after their well-being.

(3.) IT is the case of the prosecution that in the morning of 9-8-1992 (sunday), as P. W. 6 (suvarna prasad) did not get regular phone call from sunanda and in spite of repeated attempts made by her from Madras wherein she was staying, she contacted P. W. 22 (dr. Xavier) and asked him to make enquiries about the well-being of sunanda and rukamma and to intimate her. Accordingly, P. W. 22 (dr. Xavier) at about 10. 00 a. m. tried to call both deceased sunanda and rukamma over phone and, when he could not get any reply, he thought that they might have gone out to meet their relatives and having waited some time and even then when no reply being received from them, he contacted P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar), who, as stated earlier, is another relative of deceased sunanda and rukamma, at about 6. 00 p. m. again P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) thinking that both sunanda and rukamma might have gone out and having waited some time, came to the apartment and along with P. W. 22 (dr. Xavier) went to flat No. 201 occupied by both the deceased. When both of them (p. w. 1 and P. W. 22) went there, they found the door was locked from inside and as it was a latch-door and in spite of repeated pressing of the bell as there was no response, P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) with the help of a duplicate key which was with him (said to have been given him by sunanda) opened the door and entered the house. There was darkness in the house and on switching the lights, in the bedroom they noticed on separate cots two bodies covered with rugs and on verification they were found to be the dead bodies of sunanda and rukamma. Immediately, P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) contacted his relatives at Bangalore as well as P. W. 6 (suvarna prasad) at Madras. It is stated that P. W. 6 (suvarna prasad) informed P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) that she would come to Bangalore immediately by the next available flight and not to do anything till then. P. w. 1 (keshava lyengar) thereafter locked the door of the flat and came back to his house. Next day, i. e. , on 10-8-1992 in the morning at about 7'o clock, after the arrival of P. W. 6 (suvarna prasad) and her husband, P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) accompanied them and observed the conditions inside the house. As P. W. 6 (suvarna prasad) suspected that some of the articles including some jewelleries on the persons of deceased missing, suspecting foul play, requested P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) to lodge a complaint with the jurisdictional police. Accordingly, P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) contacted the d. i. g. of police, who, in turn, instructed P. W. 29 (narayan), the police inspector and station house officer of ashokana- gar police station, to look into the same. P. w. 29 (narayan) proceeded to the spot wherein P. W. 1 (keshava lyengar) gave him the written complaint as per exhibit p-l which was sent to the police station for registration of the case and investigation. P. w. 26 (srinivas) who was the police sub inspector on receipt of the complaint registered a case in cr. No. 594 of 1992 for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code against unknown persons and thus investigation was set in motion. Dog squad and fingerprint experts were called for. The police dogs could not lead police to any suspicious place or person and as such it was given up. However, P. W. 28 (narayanappa fingerprint expert) found three chance fingerprints on the t. v. stand and two chance fingerprints on the stainless steel cup kept near the dead bodies and took photograph of the same as well as the fingerprints of the deceased and the nearby occupants, viz. , P. W. 2 (thavamani - a watchman) and P. W. 3 (selvi - maid servant, who had immediately come there ). P. w. 10 (ameer - the police photographer) took photos of the dead bodies and, after holding inquest mahazar as per exhibits p-26 and p-27 the bodies were sent for autopsy. As it disclosed during the inquest and subsequent recording of statements of witnesses especially from the statement of P. W. 2 (thavamani) that the accused 1 along with another person had visited previous night and went to the flat of the deceased, search for accused 1 was set in. P. w. 7 (chandrashekar nair - inspector, cod), who was entrusted with search/apprehending the accused, found accused 1 moving in his ambassador car near the manipal hospital and he was apprehended and brought to the police station along with car and formally arrested by P. W. 29 (narayan) at about 5. 00 p. m. after the arrest, accused 1 was interrogated and, as per his voluntary statement (exhibit p-39), certain ornaments said to be belonging to both the deceased were recovered from the dicky of the ambassador car bearing registration No. Kld 6288 admittedly belonging to accused 1. As during the interrogation' accused 1 pointed out involvement of accused 2 in the crime. So furnished, accused 2 was also arrested and interrogated. As per his voluntary statement, the pillow and pillow cover (m. os. 7 and 7a) said to have been used for smothering the deceased were also recovered from the apartment itself.