MOHAMMED ALIAS MOHAMMED SAB Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) the appellant challenges his conviction by the sessions court for the offence under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentence passed thereon to death and that he shall be hanged by his neck till he is dead. He was also convicted under sections 307 and 333 I.P.C. and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years and 3 years respectively and also to pay a fine of Rs. 5.000/- for each of the offences with default sentence.

(2.) the facts of the case briefly stated are that the accused-appellant is a slaughterer and does slaughting work in his house at dadamaghatta within the, jurisdiction of bhadravathi rural police station. P.w. 3 malleshappa, resident of baballi village in the same taluk, owned a few cattle and was tethering them in a shed behind his house. On 5.1.1989 he tethered his cattle as usual in the shed and at about 5.30 a.m. the following morning he went to the shed and saw that two of his cows were missing. Out of them, one was pregnant and another was a milking cow. As the same could not be traced near about, he sent his younger brother amruthcshwar and another rasul khan in different directions in search of them. At about 8.30 a.m. amrulheshwar took a phone call to narayanagiri, a neighbour of the complainant, and informed that he had traced the person who had stolen the cattle and having killed them, hide and face portion and horns with him were available. He also sent words to narayanagiri that he should immediately proceed to that spot with police. Narayanagiri then asked P.W. 3 to go to the police station and report the matter and that he would follow. Accordingly P.W. 3 went to bhadravalhi police station in the autorikshaw of one basavanthagiri and filed complaint at the bhadravathi police station. On this complaint, P.W. 9 - h.c. of the rural police station, registered a case in crime No. 9/1989 under Section 379 I.P.C., made entry in the station house diary and then sent constable chikkanarayana-p.w. 4 along with him as a part of investigation. Accordingly, P.W. 4, P.W. 3, and the autorikshaw driver basavanthagiri went to dadamaghatta. Rasul khan and amrulheshwar were near a mosque in that village and on the arrival of p.ws. 3 and 4, they enterered into the house of the accused and in the meanwhile, deceased narayanagiri also arrived there. Basavaraj and shankaragiri had accompanied him. In the house of the accused, they saw that he was cutting meat and they asked to produce the hide and faces of the cows and even the constable asked if there was a licence for him to slaughter cows. The accused got enraged and assaulted the constable with "kathi" that was in his hand. Then, narayanagiri asked him why he was assaulting the constable and intervened. He was also stabbed on his chest. When, basavaraj intervened, he was also assaulted on the back with the same kaththi. Narayanagiri collapsed and the constable and basavaraj had received stab wounds. Shankaragiri and P.W. 3 came out and P.W. 3 went to the police station and filed his complaint.

(3.) P.W. 12, the p.s.i, of the bhadravathi police station received a message on 6.1.1989 at about 9.20 a.m. from the deputy superintendent of police, bhadravathi, on which he contacted the police station and informed the s.h.o.- P.W. 9 to go to the spot at dadamaghatta along with the constable. Accordingly, P.W. 9 had made entry of this message received from P.W. 12 in the station house' diary, went to the spot and on reaching dadamaghatta, found that the three were injured. In the meanwhile, P.W. 12 - p.s.i. and P.W. 14-c.p.i. also arrived. According to P.W. 14-c.p.i., the information received by him was that the accused was selling beef after committing theft of cows from baballi village. He reached dadamaghatta at about 9.45 a.m. and found 4 injured persons lying in front of the house of the accused. Immcdiatly, they were shifted to shimoga hospital and admitted there. On the complaint filed by P.W. 3, P.W. 12-p.s.i. registered a case in crime No. 10/1989 at 10.30 a.m and sent f.i.r. the spot mahazar was drawn, inquest was held over the dead body of the deceased in the hospital, blood-stained articles were seized and later witnessed were examined and on the completion of investigation, charge-sheet came to be filed. It was the accused, according to the prosecution, who produced the knife used in the commission of the offence on giving information to the police under Section 27 of the Evidence Act.