MULLAPUDI RAMAKRISHNA Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is the accused in S.C. No. 328 of 1993 on the file of the learned Sessions Judge, West Godavari at Eluru, who by his judgment and order dated 22-12-1995 convicted the accused/appellant for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000-00 in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six months; and also convicted for the offence punishable under Section 307 IPC and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000-00 in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three months; and directed that both the sentences shall run concurrently.

(2.) The gravamen of the charge is that on 21-6-1993 at about 6:30 P.M. the accused hacked one Vidiyala Venkata Rao, the deceased, with a knife on the chest as a result of the same, the deceased died on 23-6-1993. In the same transaction, the accused hacked one Vidiyala Harinath, son of the deceased (P.W.I), with the same knife on his hand thereby committed offences punishable under Sections 302 and 307 IPC or alternatively under Section 326 IPC.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is as follows: The accused and material prosecution witnesses are residents of Kaldari Village within the limits of Uhdrajavaram police station. the deceased was also a resident of the same village. The deceased was an agriculturist and was cultivating his own lands. The deceased was also cultivating the lands of his son-in law Medikonda Satyanarayana (P.W.4). The land of P.W.4 is situated adjacent to the land of the accused. There was a boundary dispute with regard to the land of the accused and P.W.4. On 21-6-1993 at about 6:30 P.M. when the deceased and his son P.W. 1- Vidiyala Harinath went to the field, they noticed the accused cutting the bund in between his land and the land of P.W.4. The deceased and P.W.I questioned the accused and there ensued an altercation. Then the accused hacked the deceased with a knife on the chest. When P.W. 1 intervened, the accused hacked him on his hand and went away. Seeing P.W.2-- Pinikuduru Naga Raju, who is a farm servant in nearby fields P.W.I asked him to go to village and inform about the incident. P.W.2 went to the village and informed to P.W.5 Komatlapatti China Venkata Rao. P.W.5 and others took a tractor and went to the scene. They found both the injured with the bleeding injuries. They took the injured persons to the Government Hospital, Tanuku in the tractor.