IMANDI SATHIRAJU Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole accused in Sessions Case No. 68 of 1978 on the file of the Visakhapatnam Sessions Division is the appellant. He was convicted under Sections 302 and 379 of the Penal Code and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and rigorous imprisonment for one year respectively. The sentences were directed to run concurrently.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is : Yalla Sanyasamma, the deceased in this case, was a much married woman of loose character. After discarding her second husband, she had disputes with her third husband and went away to her mothers house at Madanapuram, where her sister, P.W. 1, was also living separately. Her husband, Suri Demudu, was visiting her now and then at Madanapuram despite the disputes between them. Imandi Sathiraju, the accused, has his mother at Madanapuram. His sister, Simhachalam (P.W. 10) lives at Vinayakapalli, about six miles from Madanapuram. The accused discarded his wife and left Madanapuram without his whereabouts being known. In about May, 1978 the accused came to his sisters house in Vinayakapalli. Staying with his sister, he was visiting his mothers house at Madanapuram frequently. He had prior illicit intimacy with deceased. He renewed his contacts with her during his visits to Madanapuram. The marriage of the accused was settled by P.W. 10 with one Kondamma, the daughter of P.W. 11. To see that the illicit contact between her brother and the deceased would come to an end. P.W. 11 requested the accused through the accuseds sister, P.W. 10 to celebrate the betrothal ceremony by giving 6 annas worth of gold to P.W. 11s daughter and the accused agreed to the suggestion. The betrothal ceremony was to take place in the night of 1 9/08/1978.

(3.) On 19-8-1978 at about 11-00 a.m. the deceased told her sister, P.W. 1, that she was going to Vizianagaram for medical treatment. She was then wearing the gold ornaments, M.Os. 1 to 4, on her person. She went to the bus stop at Madanapuram and when she was waiting for the bus, the accused came there. On the arrival of a bus from S. Kota, the accused, the deceased and P.W. 3 got into the but, which started from near the coffee hotel of P.W. 2. The deceased and the accused got down the bus at the Thamarapalli junction along with P.W. 3 and some other passengers. After getting down the bus the deceased and the accused went towards Dharamavaram. By about 1-00 p.m., P.W. 4, a relation of the deceased saw the accused and the deceased at Bonangi junction. He did not question the deceased as to why she was going with the accused or where they were together going as he knew of the illicit intimacy between the accused and the deceased. P.W. 5 saw the accused and the deceased in Dharmavaram village at about 6 p.m. He was originally a resident of Madanapuram. He enquired the accused as to where they were going and the accused told him that they were going to Madanapuram. By about lamp lighting time, P.W. 6, a resident of Bonangi saw, while he was in his field, the accused and the deceased going towards Maradam village. He heard the deceased telling the accused that they could proceed along the usual way and the accused telling that they could go along a short cut route through Juttada Krishnas field. P.W. 6 noticed that the accused and the deceased went along the short cut route passing through Juttada Krishnas field. P.W. 7 another resident of Bonangi also saw the accused and the deceased going towards Moota Kaluva, which is between Bonangi and Madanapuram. P.W. 8 saw the accused and the deceased at Juttada Krishnas Kallam at about 7-00 p.m., while he was proceeding to Bonangi to see a picture. He enquired the accused as to why he was going along the short cut route and the accused told him that they resorted to a short cut route as the bus drivers were on strike. P.W. 9, a resident of Madanapuram, saw the accused near Moota Kaluva, while he was going to Banangi village. He noticed that the accused was then wearing drawers and baniyan with his shirt and pant hanging on his shoulder. When P.W. 9 accosted him the accused went away without giving any reply.