VENKAYALAPATI KOTAIAH OF NARASARAOPET Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Sessions Judge of Guntur convicted the accused under Section 302, Penal Code, and sentenced him to transportation for life. The corpse of Sayammal, the wife of the accused, was found at 12 noon on 1 -6 -1949 on a cot in the shed belonging to the accused, There were as many as ten injuries on the neck and hand of the deceased. The doctor who conducted the autopsy issued a post mortem certificate which disclosed that the deceased died of shock and haemorrhage due to the multiple injuries inflicted on the deceased with an axe like M. O. 1. As P. W. 1 he opined that death must have been caused five hours before the commencement of the post mortem examination which he did at 4 -45 P. M. that is, according to his view the deceased must have died at or about 12 noon.

(2.) THERE is some evidence in this case which establishes a powerful motive for the offence. P. W. 10 is residing in a house beyond two houses of the accused. A few days prior to the incident, at midnight, she saw one person entering the accused's house and she informed the same to one Palliah, her neighbour, Pulliah, as P. W, 11, deposed that, on being informed of the said fact, he told the same to one Ramaniah, Venkataramiah and others, that when they called the accused, his wife, i.e., the deceased, told them that a man known to her bad come and that when they caught the person who had entered the house and was trying to run away, the deceased interceded and asked them to leave the man. He further stated that the name of the manwas Hanumantha Rao and that he informed of that fact to the accused. Venkataramiah, as P. W. 12, corroborates P. W. 11 in regard to this incident. Ramaniah as p. W. 13, further stated that the deceased and the accused's mother abused them for catching hold of Hanumantha Rao. The fact that a stranger entered the house of the accused at midnight, that P. Ws. 11, 12 and 13 caught him and left him off as the deceased and the accused's mother interceded, and that that fact was intimated to the accused would afford sufficient basis for a deep rooted suspicion in the mind of the accused about the character of his wife.

(3.) THE accused also made a confession Ex. p. 2 to the village munsif, on 1 -6 -1949 at 12 -30 implicating himself in the murder.