(1.) The appeal is directed against the judgment of the learned VI Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Secunderabad in S.C.No. 67 of 2002, by which all the three accused viz., Varrikuppala Srisailam, Varikuppala Yadagiri and Ponnam Sudhakar were tried for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for brevity I.P.C.) and they were convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/-, in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for one month each.
(2.) The sub stance of the charge against the accused is that on the night of 05-07-2001, with an object of doing away with the life of the deceased, they took him in a tractor and killed him near the dairy farm. Thus, they committed the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of I.P.C.
(3.) The case of the prosecution as unfolded during the trial is as follows: The deceased one P. Narsing Rao, belongs to Hakimpet village. Accused also hail from Hakimpet village. P.W.4 P. Vinod and P.W.5 P. Vijay Kumar are the sons of deceased Narsing Rao. P.W.5 was working as a cleaner of the bus. On 04-07-2001, at about 9-00 p.m., when P.W.5 was cleaning the bus, he is alleged to have passed urine by the aside of the tractor of A-1, which was objected by A-1, and there was altercation between A-1 and P.W.5. It is the case of the prosecution that A-1 abused P.W.5 in filthy language. The said incident was informed by P.W. 5 to his father namely the deceased. On the next day evening, the deceased and his sons went to the accused and questioned as to why P.W.5 was insulted and abused. On that, there were some heat exchange of words, but however, the villagers intervened and settled the matter. Thereupon, P,Ws.4 and 5 went to their house and informed to their mother-P.W.3 about the compromise. After some time, the deceased returned to his house in a drunken condition and left the house thereafter wearing the uniform. However, he did not return back. P.Ws. 3 to 5 made searches and on 07-07-2001 one Mr. Agamayya-P.W.17 informed then that the dead body of the deceased was found in Gandhi Hospital mortuary. Thereupon, P.W.6, who is running STD Booth, also informed that after compromise, the accused and deceased Narsing Rao took drinks, and he asked them not to drink at booth. At that time, it was raining and there was power cut. Thereafter, the accused and deceased left in a tractor. P. W.7 is the resident of Devarymjal, Shamirpet Mandal. He was also one of the persons to speak to the compromise. After compromise, he came to know on 07-07-2001 the deceased has been died. P.W.9 is also one of the persons to compromise the matter on 05-07-2001 at hotel Sai Bhavan. P. W. 11 is also the resident of Hakimpet, who stated that after effecting the compromise at STD Booth, the deceased and accused had drink and left the place on a tractor. On 07-07-2001, at about 3.00 p.m., P.W. 1 informed to the police to the effect that the dead body of a male was lying inside the dairy farm. Ex.P-1 is the report signed by P.W.1. On the basis of the said report, a crime was registered in Cr.No. 157 of 2001 for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and investigation was taken up by P.W.15 the Sub-Inspector of Police, Bowenapalli. He visited the scene of offence and took the photographs vide Exs. P-2 to P-9. Thereafter, he shifted the body to Gandhi Hospital Mortuary for safe custody. He summoned panchayatdar-P.W.4 and others and seized one Allwyn watch M.O-1, one pair of chappals M.O-2 and M.0.3 bloodstains earth and controlled earth under the panchanama of Ex. P-10. He prepared rough sketch of the place of offence Ex. P-16. One Mr. Agamaiah-P.W. 17, came during the enquiry process and he identified the dead body of Narsing Rao and he contacted the family members of the deceased. After some time, P.Ws.3 and 4 came to the mortuary and confirmed the identity to the deceased and their statements were recorded by P.W.16. On the next day P.W. 16 conducted inquest over the dead body. During the inquest, he examined P.Ws. 5, 6 and others. Thereafter, the post-mortem was conducted and Ex . P-27 is the postmortem report. On 14-7-2001, he received information and arrested A-1 and A-2, who were coming in a tractor and seized the said tractor. P.W. 14 and one Kumar were summoned and in their presence, confessional statements of A-1 and A-2 were recorded, which led to the recovery of M.Os. 6 to 8 and also at the residence of the accused M.Os 10 to 13 were seized under Exs. P-12 and P-13 panchanamas. On 2-8-2001, A-3 was remanded to judicial custody.