NADENDLA FRANCIS Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE sole accused in "Sessions Case No. 237 of 1990 on the file of the Court of Session, Prakasam Division, Ongole is the appellant herein, who was convicted under Section 302 for causing death to his wife -Nadendla Nagamma and under Section 201 I.P.C. for throwing the dead body into Kunderu drainage channel near Thotavaripalem and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and Rigorous Imprisonment for three years respectively.

(2.) THE accused was a resident of Thotavaripalem He married the deceased about 16 years ago and were blessed with three daughters and two sons. After marriage they lived happily at Thotavaripalem for about 10 years. Later, they shifted their residence to Chirala and both of them worked in I.L.T.D. Company, Chirala at Chirala. The accused had developed illicit intimacy with a woman and he used to beat the deceased. After some time, as the I.L.T.D. Company was closed down, it became difficult for them to eke out their livelihood and maintain their children. P.W.1 is the father of the deceased and he sent his son P.W. 2 and another for bringing the accused and his family to Mulapalem. Accordingly, they came to Mulapalem only six months prior to the date of the incident and put up their family in a house belonging to P.W.1 which is about 70 feet away from the house of P.W.1. P.W.1 had arranged Ac. 3 -00 cents of land belonging to others, on lease for cultivation of the same by the accused on payment of 10 bags per acre to the owner. Even at Mulapalem, the accused used to pick up quarrel with the deceased too often.

(3.) ON April 2, 1989 at about 2.00 p.m. the accused and the deceased sent their daughter -Santha Kumari to P.W.1 for getting some money for going to Chirala for collecting the sale price of the house of the accused and also to get loan from a Bank. P.W.1 informed her that he had no money as it was Sunday and that he would give some money on the next day. But the accused and the deceased left the village for Chirala on the same day. P.W. 2, who is the brother of the deceased, came before the accused and the deceased left Mulapalem and when asked, the accused informed him that they are going to Chirala and would return on the next day. As the accused and the deceased did not return from Chirala on April 3, 1989 as expected, P.W 3. (Santha Kumari) informed the same to P.W. 1 P.W.s. 1 and 2 and another went to Thotavaripalem in search of the accused and the deceased. On evening of April 3, 1989 P.W. 9, who is a rickshaw puller, informed P.W.s 1 and 2 that the accused and the deceased travelled in his rickshaw to Baptla on April 2, 1989 and that they were quarreling in the rickshaw. As P.W.s. 1 and 2 could not find out the where -abouts of the deceased and the accused, they returned home. Again on April 4, 1989 P.W.s. 1 and 2 renewed their search of the accused and the deceased and went to Thotavaripalem. As they were proceeding towards Thotavaripalem, they heard some cries of some Yanadi people near a School saying that some dead body fell into their fishing nets. P.W.s 1 and 2 went there and found the dead body of the deceased floating in Kunderu drainage channel and they identified the dead body as that of the deceased.