STATE OF KARNATAKA Vs. VASANTHA POOJARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The unsuccessful State/Prosecution has filed the present appeal against the judgment and order of acquittal dated 30th March, 2013 made in Sessions Case No.39/2011 acquitting accused Nos.1 to 7 (respondent Nos.1 to 7) for the offences punishable under the provisions of Sections 143, 147, 148, 341, 302 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code on the file of the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, Puttur, Dakshina Kannada.

(2.) It is the case of the prosecution that one Mr. P.K. Peraddi, who is the husband of P.W.6-complainant was a retired school teacher and doing agriculture, money lending in and around Belthangady Taluk. He had owned a house situated near Forest Guest House at Karkala-Guruvayankere Main Road, Naravi Village, Belthangady Taluk. He had two wives. C.W.4 Smt. Sharada, the first wife and P.W.6 Smt. Nalini, the second wife. He was staying with his second wife at Naravi house and the children were staying in the hostel for their education. In connection with the business of money lending and also the property dealings, he had filed several cases before the various Courts and hence, drew several enemies. In order to attend Court litigations, he used to move around the Courts at Belthangady, Mangalore and also Bangalore. He had also filed a case with regard to cheque bounce which landed up to the High Court. It is the further case of the prosecution that he had leased a shop at Naravi to accused No.2 and in order to evict him, he had filed a case for eviction. There was also a land dispute between himself and accused Nos.2, 3 and 6 and therefore, accused Nos.1 to 4 and 6 having common enmity with the deceased, along with accused Nos.5 and 7, who were close relatives of accused Nos.3, 4 and 6, formed an unlawful assembly and with a common object, hatched a plan to commit murder of the deceased and therefore, they were waiting for an opportunity by watching the movements of the deceased. When the things stood thus, on the fateful day of 15.12.2010, when the deceased went to attend the cheque bounce case which was pending before the High Court (Bengaluru) and was to return on 16.12.2010, accused No.1 coming to know about it, called the remaining accused, joined together in a Toofan vehicle bearing registration No. KA 19 B 4044 belonging to accused No.1 and was waiting near the house of the deceased on the early hours on 16.12.2010 for the arrival of the deceased. At about 5.45 a.m. the deceased arrived and reached Naravi Guest House in a bus and on seeing him, soon after passing of the bus, when the deceased was walking towards his house, at that time, accused No.1 drove the Toofan Vehicle along with other accused and hit at the back of the deceased. When he tried to run, accused No.1 tried to dash the Toofan vehicle against him and while doing so, the vehicle was caught in the road side trench and the deceased fell on the foot path. Soon after, accused Nos.1 to 7 holding iron pipes and iron rods alighted from the Toofan Vehicle, assaulted the deceased physically and inflicted severe head injuries, due to which, the deceased died on the spot. It is the further case of the prosecution, that P.W.6 Smt. Nalini second wife of the deceased, who was waiting for the arrival of her husband inside the compound of her house and an eye witness to the incident along with P.W.1 Vishwanatha raising hue and cry, rushed to the spot and saw the overtacts of each of the accused persons in committing the murder of the deceased. After committing the murder of the deceased, all the accused persons tried to pull out the Toofan vehicle from the trench and at that time P.Ws. 1 and 7 chased them. By abandoning the Toofan Vehicle, all the accused persons ran away towards Naravi and disappeared. On the complaint made by P.W.6, the jurisdictional police, Belthangady registered a case in Crime No. 92/2010 for the offences punishable under the provisions of Sections 143, 341, 147, 148, 302 r/w 149 of IPC. P.W.21-Sri M. Sudharshan, the Circle Police Inspector of Belthangady Circle conducted the inquest, subjected the dead body to autopsy, visited the spot and seized the Toofan Vehicle, collected the evidence available at the spot, arrested the accused persons and recorded their statements, seized the weapons used for the offence at the instance of the accused and all the accused were subjected to judicial custody. After getting the Forensic Science Laboratory report and on completion of other formalities of the investigation, he has filed the final report.

(3.) After receipt of the charge sheet, the learned Civil Judge and JMFC., Belthangady registered a case in C.C.No.73/2011 and thereafter in compliance of the provisions of Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, committed the case to the Court of Sessions.