NESE SANKARAYYA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the judgment of the Sessions Judge of Kurncol convicting the four appellants on two counts under section 302, Indian Penal Gode, for the murder of one Boya Ghinna Sanjanna and of his brother Boya Ramudu and sentencing appellants 1 to 3 to transportation for life and the 4th appellant to death. The case of the 4th appellant has also been submitted to chis Gourt for confirmation of the sentence. We shall hereafter refer to Boya Ghinna Sanjanna in the course of this judgment as the 1st deceased and to his brother Boya Ramudu as the 2nd deceased.

(2.) The occurrence took place at about 2 P.M. on 28th September, 1954, in one Veeramma's field, which is about 2 miles off from Narnur, the village of the appellants and of the deceased. The evidence for the prosecution does not disclose an immediate motive for the double murder. All that emerges from the evidence is that the appellants were close friends of one another and that each of them had his own axe to grind against the deceased. One Nelli Sanjanna was having illicit' intimacy with the 1st appellant's wife and consequently ill-feelings developed between him and the 1st appellant since 10 or 15 days prior to the occurrence. This Nelli Sanjanna was a friend of the deceased and a next-door neighbour of the 1st deceased and hence the 1st appellant is said to have been inimical to the deceased, As regards the second appellant, he had a kallam near the 1st deceased's kallam, About three years before the occurrence, the 1st deceased had suspected the and appellant of theft of fodder from his kallam. The latter had taken oath at a panchayat denying the theft and afterwards the 2nd appellant had abused the 1st deceased, and the two deceased and P.W. 5 had beaten the 2nd appellant. This was the cause of the enmity between the 2nd appellant and the two deceased. So far as the 3rd appellant is concerned, he and the 1st deceased had been farm servants of P.W. 10. About three years before the occurrence, there was a theft of ropes from P.W. 10's house. The 1st deceased, who was the head farm-servant, accused the 3rd appellant of the theft and there was a panchayat in that connection. During the panchayat, the 3rd appellant slapped the 1st deceased, which incident led tc another quarrel in the course of which the two deceased beat the 3rd appellant. Hence there was enmity between the 3rd appellant and the deceased. As to the 4th appellant, he was keeping one Nagamma and enjoying her husband's property. This Nagamma was the widow of the deceased's maternal uncle, who died about three years prior to the occurrence. About a year after his death, the 4th appellant and Nagamma went away from Narnur to live in another village Emboyi. Because the 4th appellant was carrying on with Nagamma, there was enmity between him and the deceased, and on one occasion prior to leaving for Emboyi the 4th appellant even attempted to stab the 1st deceased with a dagger.

(3.) On the morning of 28th September, 1954, the date of the occurrence, the two deceased accompanied by P.Ws. 13 and 14 went to sow seeds in Veeramma's field, which the two deceased had taken on lease. P.W. 13 Boya Surappa who was distantly related to the deceased went to assist them, while P.W. 14 Jambuliah was engaged as a mazdoor. The sowing with the aid of three yckes of bulls went on till about 2 P.M. when the party stopped work and sat fort their meals. They had hardly begun eating, when the four appellants appeared there armed with stout and heavy sticks the 4th appellant being armed in addition with a spear. The details of the subsequent events have been spoken to P. W. 13 and P.W. 14. Appellants 1 and 3 beat the 1st deceased with sticks and appellants 2 and 4 similarly beat the 2nd deceased. Both the deceased fell down, but tht 2nd deceased managed to get up and ran to the neighbouring korra field. At the outset of the onslaught on the 2nd deceased, P.Ws. 13 and 14 tried to intervene but the appellants threatened them wich the same fate. Therefore, P.Ws. 13 and 14 gut frightened and stood aside. All the four appellants chased the 2nd deceased ro the korra field, where they continued the attack with sticks and the 4th appellant speared him. Then they came back to the place where the 1st deceased had fallen and belaboured him and the 4th appellant also speared him. About 2 furlongs away, four person, belonging to the next village of Puricherla were engaged in sowing. Two of them, P.Ws. 15 and 16, heard the disturbance in Veeramma's field and came running. When they were about half a furlong from the scene, one of the assailants threatened them with a spear and scared them away. So they went back to their field and returned 10 their village. After tht appellants beat and stabbed the deceased as they liked, appellants 2 and 3 threatened to tie up P.Ws. 13 and 14 with ropes. P.Ws. 13 and 14 entreated them net to do so and swore that they would stay there itself without telling anybody about the Occurrence. Then all the appellants went away. After they disappeared, P.Ws. 13 and 14 mustered enough courage to go across to another field, where they hid themselves until the evening. At lamp-lighting time, they proreeded straight to their houses in Narnur and in accordance with the promise extracted from them by the appellants did not tell anybody about the occurrence.