KOOSAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been preferred by the accused-appellant challenging the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court at Puttur, D.K. in S.C.No.153/2010 dated 28.2.2013.

(2.) The case of the prosecution in brief is that one Mohankumar filed the man missing complaint Ex.P1 on 4.6.2010 alleging that he is residing in the address given therein and he is working as a Manager in Bharath Finance situate at Market road, Mangalore since 9 years and in the said institution they pledge the gold articles and also buy pledged gold articles from other banks by repaying the loans. In the said finance one Gangadhar Achar, S/o B.Gopal Achar is working under him since 5 years and on 4.6.2010 at about 12.30 p.m. one Ganesh, S/o Shankar Naik of Kodimbadi, Puttur taluk came to his finance and told that he has pledged some gold in Puttur Grameena Bank and that he want to get the said gold released from the said bank and deposit in Bharath finance for which he require Rs.1,15,000/- and accordingly, he sent Gagadhar Achar along with the said Ganesh by giving an amount of Rs.1,15,000/- and after going along with cash, said Gangadhar Achar has not returned to the finance till 6.00 p.m. in the evening and accordingly, complainant filed the complaint to trace the said person by giving description of the said missing person. On the basis of the said complaint, a case was registered in Crime No.92/2010 for man missing. Subsequently, one more complaint came to be filed on 5.6.2010 as per Ex.P2 by the same complainant M.Mohankumar alleging that he is working as a Manager in Bharath Finance which belong to one M.Padmanabha Rao. In the said finance, one Devdass and Krishna are working as clerks and B.Gangadar Acharya was working as an Assistant and that on 4.6.2010 at about 12.00 p.m. Ganesh, S/o Shankar Naik of Kodimbadi came and told that one of his friends has pledged 8 pavan of gold in Puttur Grameena Bank for Rs.50,000/- and since the period of pledge has expired, in order to get it released, he require an amount of Rs.1,15,000/- and if the same is paid, the said Ganesh will sell the said gold to the finance company of complainant for which he should be paid commission amount. Accordingly, the complainant adjusted Rs.1,15,000/- and obtained a signed receipt from the accused wherein he has mentioned his name as Ganesh, Kodimbadi post, Puttur, Santosh wines and father's name as Shankar Naik. He has also mentioned his phone number as 9341716871 and land line number as 08251-237725. Thereafter, complainant has sent B.Gangadhar Acharya with an amount of Rs.1,15,000/- along with the accused. Thereafter, he called to the mobile phone of Gangadhar Acharya at 3.00 p.m. but there was no response. Even after giving several calls when the said Gangadhar Acharya did not respond, complainant called to the mobile number of Ganesh, which was switched of. Thereafter the complainant called his friend Bhujanga Acharya and asked him to make enquiries about Gangadhar Acharya as to whether he is there in puttur. Thereafter being afraid, he filed the man missing complaint. However, on 5.6.2010 on obtaining the tower location of mobile phone of Gangadhar Acharya, they came to know that it was near Puttur, Kodimbadi and accordingly, the complainant along with police and his brother Satish around 10.30 a.m. in the morning went to Puttur Kodimbai and was searching for Gangadhar Acharya. At that time, near Kodimbadi village, Karpu Arbi road, they saw a chappal lying by the side of the road and when they verified the nearby place, about 25 ft. distance from the said place, they found the dead body of Gangadhar Acharya lying in a supine position and there were bleeding injuries, blood clots and abrasions over the arms and other parts of the body. At a further distance of 25 ft. to the west, they found watch and mobile phone of Gangadhar Acharya. The complainant has contended that the said Ganesh with an illegal intention deceitfully has hatched a plan and accordingly, has committed the murder of Gangadhar Acharya and robbed cash of Rs.1,15,000/- and that two other persons might have involved along with the said Ganesh. He has given the particulars of said Ganesh as belonging to the age group of 25-30 years, 5.5 ft. height, well built personality and was wearing pant shirt and was taking Kannada and Tulu language. On the basis of the said complaint, he has requested to take action against the accused. Accordingly, case was registered in crime No.147/10 for the offences under Sections 302, 392 and 201 of IPC.

(3.) We have heard Sri.Aruna Shyam, learned counsel for the appellant and Sri.M.Divakar Maddur, learned High Court Govrnment Pleader for the respondent-State at length.