SHIVARUDRA B. Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is preferred by the appellant/accused challenging the judgment and sentence dated 30.12.2017 passed by the II Additional District & Sessions Judge, Ramanagara (to sit at Kanakapura), in S.C. No.13/2013, for the offence punishable under Section 306 of Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as IPC for short), sentencing the accused to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs.50,000/- for the offence punishable under Section 306 of IPC and in the event of default of payment of fine amount, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year.

(2.) The case of the prosecution in nutshell is that the deceased Honnaveeragowda @ Ravi and the accused are close relatives. The deceased was nephew of the accused. The deceased came to Bengaluru along with his wife and child. He was working as a security supervisor. There was a dispute between the mother of the deceased and the accused with regard to purchase of a site at Bengaluru, in addition to some other family disputes. The main dispute was regarding purchase of a site at Bengaluru, for which, the mother of the deceased is said to have contributed some amount, but the accused had purchased the said site in his name and sold the same without informing them. Therefore, a panchayath was held and the accused was directed to pay a sum of Rs.5,00,000/-, but the same was not paid by the accused. Thereafter, in the month of October 2010, the deceased, his mother along with two other brothers namely PW1 and PW11 had gone to the house of the accused and threatened him with dire consequences if the amount agreed in the panchayath is not said. Hence, the accused had filed a complaint against the deceased, his mother and other family members, which was registered on 25.10.2010 at P.S. Crime No.428/2010 for the offences punishable under Sections 504 and 506 of IPC. Thereafter, on 23.11.2011, the deceased committed suicide by leaving a death note. On 24.11.2011, the villagers telephoned to the brother of the deceased namely Narayanagowda that Honnaveeragowda had hanged himself. Immediately, the wife of the deceased was informed. After the arrival of the wife of the deceased and other relatives to the spot, a complaint was filed by the brother-in-law of deceased namely Shivaswamy. On the basis of the said complaint, UDR was registered on 24.11.2011 at 11.00 a.m. Thereafter, at 7.30 p.m., Narayanagowda, brother of the deceased filed a complaint. In pursuance of the said complaint, a case was registered at P.S. Crime No.303/2011. On registering the case, the police have conducted investigation and submitted charge-sheet against the accused for the offence punishable under Section 306 of IPC.

(3.) After committal of the case, the accused appeared and charges were framed. The prosecution has examined 15 witnesses as PW1 to PW15 and got marked the documents as per Exhibit-P1 to P14. The material object is marked as M.O.-1. The statement under Section 313 was recorded and the accused denied the incriminating circumstances. On appreciating the oral and documentary evidence placed on record, the trial Court has held the accused guilty of the offences punishable under Section 306 of IPC.