Judgment

FAZL ALI. J.:- Appellants A-1 to A-3 have been convicted under Sec. 302 read with Section 34 I.P.C. as also under S. 148 I.P.C. They are also convicted under S. 364 read with S. 34 I.P.C. A-1 to A-3 have been sentenced to imprisonment for life under S. 302 read with Section 34 and A-4 has been awarded the same sentence under S. 302 read with S. 149 I.P.C. Under Section 364 read with S. 34 the four appellants have been awarded five years rigorous imprisonment each. In view of the sentences passed, no separate sentence was imposed under Sections 147 and 148 I.P.C. The accused had been acquitted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Anantpur, in the State of Andhra Pradesh. On appeal against acquittal filed by the State before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, the appeal was allowed and the appellants A-1 to A-4 were convicted and sentenced as mentioned above. Against these convictions, the present appellants have preferred this appeal to this Court. As the High Court had awarded the sentence of life imprisonment after reversing the order of acquittal passed by the Additional Sessions Judge the appeal to the Supreme Court lies even on facts and as a matter of right under Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970.

2. The prosecution case may conveniently be divided into four separate parts - Part-I constitutes the immediate motive for the murder of the deceased: Part II relates to the visit of the deceased to Anantpur where he was shadowed and threatened and forms the genesis of the occurrence; Part III consists of the actual murderous assault on the deceased resulting in his death and the last part-Part IV-relates to the recovery of the dead body three days after the occurrence. This is rather an unfortunate case where the appellants sought to hit upon a pre-conceived plan to do away with the life of the deceased animated by rancour and hatred resulting from the act of the deceased in embroiling the accused in a litigation over a monetary transaction.

3. In order to understand the case put forward by the prosecution it may be necessary to give briefly a re sume of the four stages of the prosecution case.

4. Part-I. The story of the prosecution begins with the purchase of a jeep by A-2 and his brother being jeep No. A.P.A. 2781 from one Kona Rama Subbareddi for a consideration of Rs. 6.000/-. In order to meet the consideration of the jeep A-1 and his brother had borrowed a sum of Rs. 6,900/- on April 18, 1964 from the deceased after executing a promissory note in his favour. As this money was not paid by A-1 to the deceased, the deceased brought a suit in the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Anantpur for realisation of the amount. Some time in the year 1969 A-l filed an Insolvency petition before the subordinate Judge showing his debts to the tune of Rs. 1,96,000/-. The suit filed by the deceased was posted on February 6, 1969 for evidence to be given by A-1 and this appears to have been the immediate provocation and occasion for planning the murder of the deceased by the appellants.

5. Part-II. In view of the fact that the suit was posted to February 6, 1969 the deceased along with P.W.1 - who will hereafter be referred to as Chinna - proceeded to Anantpur on February 5, 1969 and reached there at 8-30 P.M. It is said that while P.W. 1 Chinna and the deceased were alighting from the bus they saw A-1, A-2 and A-4 sitting in the jeep near the petrol pump which is situated near the bus-stand. Chinna and the deceased then went to the house of N. Narayana Rao, P.W. 20 who was their counsel and stayed there for the night. On the next day i.e. February 6, 1969 the suit was adjourned and after the adjournment of the case Chinna and the deceased went to the place where they were staying and on the way some persons with big moustaches appear to have threatened them. Chinna, however, did not take the threat seriously and proceeded to his destination.

6. Part-III. On the night of February 6, 1969