PULINGEERI BHASKAR Vs. STATE OF A.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The first accused in Sessions Case No. 53/76 on the file of the Additional Sessions Judge, Machilipatnam is the appellant. The appellant and three others were charged with committing offences punishable under Section 302. I.P.C. read with Section 34 I.P.C. and under Section 302 I.P.C. read with Section 109 I.P.C. Accused 1 to 3 were charged with an offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. read with Section 34 I.P.C. and accused 4 under Section 302 I.P.C. read with Section 109 I.P.C. The learned Sessions Judge acquitted accused 2, 3 and 4 and convicted the first accused under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

(2.) The case of the prosecution briefly stated is that the deceased Gori-parthi Radhakrishna Murthy was a resident of Vijayawada and an active worker of the Communist Party. The accused was a close follower of one Vangaveeti Radhakrishna Murthy. There were ill-feeling between Vangaveeti Radhakrishna Murthy and his party men on one side and the members of the Communist Party of India at Vijayawada on the other. Vangaveeti Radhakrishna Murthy was one of the accused, being accused in a case of murder of one Chalasani Venkata Ratnam. Before the case came up for trial he was murdered. The deceased and some others were charge sheeted for that murder and the first accused was an eye witness in that case. The deceased Goriparthi Radhakrishna Murthy, was threatening the first accused with direct consequences if he deposed against him. Yet the first accused gave evidence. On the date of the murder the deceased gave evidence in a M.V.O.P. in the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Krishna. He was examined as a witness till 3.30 P.M. and thereafter the left for Indra Bhavan, a hotel where he was staying. The accused also were on that day at Machilipatnam having gone to the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Krishna to meet one Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao. The deceased noticed the first accused in the Court and threatened that he would be done away with within 10 days. The first accused therefore became afraid and wanted to move first in the matter before Goriparthi Radhakrishna Murthy did any harm to him. He asked accused 2 and 3 to follow him and to attack the deceased. Having located Radhakrishna Murthy at Indra Bhavan they also sought the assistance of accused 4 who brought accused 2 and 3 to Indra Bhavan in the car of Mohana Ranga Rao. Accused 2 and 3 joined accused 1 and were waiting at the gate. As the deceased came out of the hotel at about 4 p.m. accused 1 chased him and the deceased ran into the hotel. Accused 1 pursued him and stabbed him in the abdomen with a knife and the deceased thereupon ran into the kitchen and fell on his face. Accused 1 and 3 stabbed him indiscriminately and inflicted 16 injuries resulting in his death. Accused I came out of the hotel, threw the knife with which he had stabbed the deceased near Delux hotel and ran some distance. He stopped a rickshaw carrying P.W. 8 and driven by P.W. 10 and made P.W. 8 get down and got into the rickshaw and asked the rickshaw driver to take him to Chilakalapudi Railway station from where he absconded. Meanwhile accused 2 escaped from the hotel through the rear gate of the residential house of the proprietor and accused 3 escaped by scaling the compound wall. They got into the car kept by accused 4. Accused 1 was arrested at Benz Company Centre, Vijayawada on 11-8-1975 and accused 3 and accused 4 subsequently surrendered themselves before the Court.

(3.) The learned Sessions Judge after considering the evidence in the case acquitted accused 2 to 4 but found accused 1 guilty of an offence under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced him to under go imprisonment for life.