ESWARAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appears to be an unfortunate case in which the appellant-accused has been convicted for murdering his brother wholly on irrelevant evidence and purely on surmises. Nageudra (PW. 18), Deputy Superintendent Of Police, who conducted the investigation, and the learned Sessions Judge, who tried the case, must bear the blame equally. The investigation conducted by PW18 was casual in nature, and. the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, who tried the case, is no better. We are constrained to make these observations at the beginning, although mere unfolding of the prosecution case itself would justify a serious condemnation.

(2.) The prosecution case to put it briefly, is as follows : Yogappa alias Yogesh the deceased Was a brother of Eswarappa the accused. Siddaramappa (PW1) is their father. Like most of the agriculturists in the villages, the deceased and the accused used to sleep together in their thrashing floor near their lands. On the night of 24th December 1974, as usual, they slept there. Late in the night, the accused got up on hearing the sound of a boulder falling down and saw three or four persons running away. He saw his brother lying dead with his hsad crushed. He then ran to the neighbouring thrashing floor; where Giriyappa (PW6), Ramappa (PW7) and Annappa (PW8) were sleeping. He informed them that, his brother was murdered by seme persons by throwing a boulder on his head. They came and saw the dead body in a pool of blood with a boulder (MOI) beside. Thereafter the accused along with one or two persons went to the village and informed PW1 about the incident. Thereupon, PW1 came to the spot along with others. On seeing his son dead, he scribed a report Ext.P1 and delivered it in the Police Station. In the report he had stated that some persons killed his son Yogesh by throwing a stone on his head. Upon that information, a case was registered under S.302 IPC.

(3.) After registering the case, Kushalan, Sub-Inspector of Police (PW16) reached the scene of occurrence and commenced investigation. He could not get any clue of the person who committed the murder. The case was, thereafter, handed over to the Circle Inspector of Police of Tarikere for further investigation. Even the Circle Inspector could not trace the culprit in spite of his best efforts in that behalf. The ease thus remained without any further progress till 10-10-1975 on which day, Nagendra, Deputy Superintendent of Police (PW18) took up the investigation. Crla 398 of 1976