NAGIREDDI SIVA Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A-1 and A-2 are the appellants. They challenge their convictions under sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and sentences to suffer imprisonment for life and R.I., for two years respectively imposed thereunder.

(2.) The gravamen of the charge against the accused is that on 27-10-'89 at about 11-00 p.m., at Kondakarla village they caused the death of one Nagireddi Venkata Eswara Prakash (hereinafter referred to as 'the deceased') by throttling him with a rope and also used the evidence regarding his death to disappear besides giving wrong information that the deceased died of excessive drinking of alcohol for screening the offence of murder.

(3.) In this appeal admittedly there is no direct evidence as regards the offence under section 302, IPC. The trial Court convicted the accused on the basis of the circumstantial evidence. According to the learned counsel, Sri Padmanabha Reddy the circumstantial evidence is not conclusive to hold the accused liable for the offences they were convicted of. He submitted that the extra-judicial confession alleged to have been made by A-2 to P.W.-1, a rickshaw puller, cannot be taken into consideration since the same was resiled and as there was also no other evidence corroborating the alleged confession. Therefore, the learned counsel contended that the accused are entitled to acquittal. The learned Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, submitted that the accused are rightly convicted on the basis of the evidence available and there are no merits in the appeal for interference.