PAYAM RAJULU Vs. STATE OF A.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE sole accused, who is none other than the husband of the deceased and who is convicted for the offence of murdering her and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, is the appellant herein.

(2.) TO establish the prosecution story, PWs 1 to 14 were examined and Exs. P -1 to P -9 were got marked. Three MOs, out of which MO -1 is the knife, which is allegedly used for committing the offence, were seized and got marked.

(3.) THE case of the prosecution was that, the accused killed his wife using MO -1 knife and when PWs 1 to 3 were at the Kirana Shop, which is just two houses away from the house of the accused, around 5 -00 AM, the accused appeared and made a statement that he has killed his wife and then ran away therefrom. PW -1 along with PWs 2 to 4 rushed to the house of the accused and found the deceased lying in supine position in a pool of blood on her cot. She was dead by then. Hence, PW -1 went to the house of the Sarpanch, narrated the event and then proceeded to the Police Station to lodge a complaint. In his compliant, it was stated by him that just about ten days prior to the incident, the elder sister of PW -1 and the deceased by name Smt. Sheelam Venkamma, reprimanded the accused for his unreasonable and intolerable behaviour of suspecting the character of his wife. Therefore, PW -1 has specifically alleged in his complaint that it is the accused, who killed his sister, the deceased. The learned counsel for the appellant Ms. Vasundara would submit that in the course of cross -examination, PW -1 has made the following statement: