PADMA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Criminal Appeal No.1125 of 2014 and Criminal Appeal No.151 of 2015 are filed by accused Nos.1 and 2 respectively being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and order on sentence dated 6-12-2014 made in Sessions Case No.39 of 2013 on the file of the Presiding Officer, Fast Track Court and Additional Sessions Judge, Channarayapatna (hereinafter referred to as 'the trial Court') for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, 'the IPC ').

(2.) The status of the parties before the trial Court is retained for the sake of convenience.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that Shravanabelagola Police filed charge-sheet against accused Nos.1 and 2 for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the IPC. As per the case of the prosecution, accused No.1-Padma @ Padmamma is the wife of Kumara (hereinafter referred to as 'the deceased) having two children, namely Varshini and Shekhar. They were residing in Gurigaranahalli village. Accused No.2- Venkatesh @ Swamanna had obtained the land on lease from P.W.11-Nanjappa in Survey No.15 of Aladahalli village for growing ginger and accused No.1 and her husband were working as coolie in the said land. Accused No.2 used to visit the house of the deceased frequently and while doing so, accused No.2 developed intimacy with accused No.1. After coming to know about their illicit intimacy, panchayat was held in the village and warned accused No.2 not to come to the village and to stop illegal connection with accused No.1. In spite of warning, accused Nos.1 and 2 continued their illicit relationship. Then, accused No.1 and the deceased shifted residence to the farmhouse of Nanjappa in which accused No.2 was cultivating. Making use of the circumstances, accused No.2 started frequently visiting the house of the deceased and continued his illicit intimacy with accused No.1. It is further alleged that on 23-9-2012 at about 7.30 p.m., when accused Nos.1 and 2 were in the said house, on seeing the said incident, the deceased abused accused No.1 and also tried to assault her. At that time, accused Nos.1 and 2 said to have decided to kill the deceased, as the deceased was obstacle for their relationship. Thereby, with an intention to commit murder, accused No.2 assaulted the deceased on his head with a chopper and caused injuries. After confirming the death of the deceased, accused Nos.1 and 2 in order to destroy the evidence, thrown the dead body into a ditch near Harikethamma temple to draw the presumption that somebody might have committed the murder and in order to screen the offence, they removed the blood stains on the ground by putting the same into the plastic cover and thrown into the water.