HARABAILU KARIAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is preferred by the appellants who were the accused in the trial Court against the Judgement of the Sessions Judge, Kodagu Dist. Madikeri, in S.C. No. 57/93 dt. 9th June, 1994, convicting the appellants/accused Nos. 1 and 2 for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 r/w Sec. 34 IPC. and accused No. 3 for the offence punishable under Sec. 109 r/w Sec. 302 IPC. and sentencing them to imprisonment for life.

(2.) We have heard the learned counsel for the appellants/accused Sri. Ponnappa and the learned Addl. State Public Prosecutor Sri. A. B. Patil fully and perused the record of the case.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is as follows :The deceased, Kushalappa, purchased 40 acres of land in the year 1978 from the father of accused Nos. 1 and 2. There was enmity, between the accused on the one hand and the deceased on the other. Near the land of the accused, the deceased had forest land where a panuvala tree had grown. The accused deceased had sold some panuvala trees from that particular area to Raghava P.W. 9 for a sum of Rs. 300/- on 23-3-93 and the servants of Raghava came and cut some trees on that day and there was no objection from any of the accused for cutting that tree on that day. On 24-3-93 P.W. 5 Krishna Kutty, Raghava, Shankara and Murali came to cut the other trees. The trees were shown to them by P.W. l, the writer of the deceased-Kushalappa. When they began to cut the trees, A-1 and A-2 objected to the cutting of these trees. They came and told this fact to P.W. 1 the writer of Kushalappa. P.W. 1 went to Kushalappa and told about the resistance made by A-1 and A-2 to the cutting of that tree. The deceased Kushalappa himself went to the spot. He was followed immediately by P.W. 1 Kamalaksha the writer, P.W. 4-Kaveramma, the wife of the deceased, P.W. 6-Kasthuri, the wife of P.W. 1, Krishnakutty - P.W. 5, Muralidhar, the worker who had come to cut the trees. On reaching the spot, the deceased-Kushalappa asked the workers to cut the trees but they hesitated to do so. That the deceased himself took the axe from the hands of Krishnakutty P.W. 5 and went to cut that tree. Immediately A-1 came and cut on the right side of the neck of Kushalappa by means of 'kathi' and A2 cut on the back side of the head of Khuhlappa and A-3 was standing nearby holding 'kathi' in her hand and she was instigating A-1 and A-2 not to leave Kushalappa as, if left alive and if he were to get up, he would not spare them. Even after Kushalappa fell down, A-1 and A-2 dealt a number of blows by means of 'kathi' and Kushalappa died on the spot. P.W. 7- Sarojini who came to the scene of occurrence on hearing the cries saw A-1 to A-3 there with 'kathies' in their hands. The 'kathies' in the hands of A-1 and A-2 and their clothes were blood stained. P.W. 1 went to Suntikoppa and gave his written complaint as per Ex. P 1. The police registered a case in Cr. No. 26/93 and started investigating into the case and after completion of the investigation, filed charge sheets against the accused persons.