MANOHAR Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The trial Court found the accused guilty of an offence punishable under Section 307 I. P. C. in its judgment and order dated 21-4-90 and sentenced him to undergo R. I. for a period of 5 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/- in default of payment of fine, to undergo R. I. for a period of 18 months. Aggrieved by the judgment and order of the learned Prl. District and Sessions Judge, Shimoga in S. C. No. 6/89, dated 21-4-1990, the appellant has preferred this criminal appeal.

(2.) The facts of the case very briefly are : - The accused Manohar and the complainant Nagaraj P.W. 2 belong to the same age group and they were classmates in school and were friends. The said accused Manohar used to visit the house of P. W. 2 and also the cycle shop that was run by the family members of P. W. 2. The case of the prosecution is that when the accused-Manohar was visiting the cycle shop that was being run by the family members of P. W. 2, he was committing some petty thefts. This came to the knowledge of the family members of P. W. 2. They wanted to report the matter to the police, but due to the intervention of the parents of the accused this was not done. From that day onwards, there was some ill-will between the accused and the complainant. This incident of alleged petty theft was five years prior to the date of occurrence.

(3.) On 18-3-1988 at about 8 p.m. the P. W. 2 was returning home from his shop. When he was passing on the road just near his house, he found the accused coming from his opposite direction. When the P. W. 2 was passing just in front of the house of One Chandrashekar P. W. 6 and one Kushalraj P. W. 5, the accused who came in the opposite direction dashed against P. W. 2. P. W. 2 asked the accused to behave properly, there was some altercation as a result of which, the accused ran to his house and a little later brought a chopper M. O. 1, rushed towards P. W. 2 who was proceeding along the road and stabbed him near his neck. P. W. 2 started bleeding. P. W. 5 and P. W. 6 and some others who were near about there rushed towards them and removed the injured P. W. 2 to the hospital where he was treated. P. W. 2 first went to a private Doctor Kote and later was admitted in the Bhadravathi hospital.