The credibility of eyewitness testimony, corroborated by medical evidence and objective findings, is crucial in establishing guilt in criminal cases.

Judgment

B. N. AGRAWAL, J.

( 1 ) THE six appellants along with three other accused persons, namely, Ramineni Gopalrao, Ala China Subba Rao and Kallikonda Venkateswarlu were convicted by the trial Court under Sections 302/149 and each of them was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs. 500. 00, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three months. They were further convicted under Section 148 of the Penal Code and each one of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. Appellant Nos. 2 and 3, namely, Nallamekala Venkateswarlu and Gogasani Ramaiah, who were also charged under Section 506 of the Penal Code, were acquitted of the same. All the sentences were, however, ordered to run concurrently. On appeals being preferred before Andhra Pradesh High Court, convictions and sentences of the appellants have been confirmed whereas the three accused persons referred to above have been acquitted of the charges levelled against them.

( 2 ) PROSECUTION case, in short, is that the accused persons as well as members of the prosecution party were residents of village Kovelamudi within the district of Guntur and the deceased was also a resident of the same village. There were two groups in the village; one led by appellant No. 1 - Alla China Apparao and the deceased led the other. The deceased had worked as Sarpanch of the village for 7 years, but subsequently, appellant No. 1 became that Sarpanch. In the co-operative society elections the candidate supported by the deceased got elected. As a result of this, the accused bore grudge against the deceased. On 25-2-1993 at about 9. 30 A. M. when the deceased was coming from his fields to the village on his bicycle along with P. W. 1 - Thota Venkateswara Rao, the informant, who was riding on the pillion seat, all the accused are alleged to have attacked the deceased near the house of one Dasari Ankamma. Appellant No. 1 is said to have hacked him on the right wrist and accused Ramineni Gopalarao speared on the back. After receiving injuries the deceased is alleged to have fallen down from the bicyclewhereafter, other appellants viz. , Nallamkala Venkaeswarlu, Gogasani Ramaiah, Sinka Venkataramiah, Gairiboyina Sivaramaiah and Thota Sivaiah besides accused Ala China Subha Rao and Kallikonda Venketeswarlu dragged the deceased to a nearby wall. Then appellant No. 1 hacked the deceased on his head and appellant No. 2 hacked him on the left side of the neck with coconut cutting knives. Appellant Nos. 3 to 6 hacked the deceased on his head and accused Ali China Subba Rao and Kallikonda Venkateswarlu speared on his back. The incident is said to have been witnessed by P. Ws. 1 to 4 who raised alarm whereafter the accused persons took to their heels. Stating the aforesaid facts, a first information report was lodged by the informant at the police station on the same day at 12 Noon.

( 3 ) THE police after registering the case took up investigation and on completion thereof submitted chargesheet against all the nine accused persons, including the appellants on receipt whereof, the learned Magistrate took cognizance and committed all of them to the Court of Sessions to face trial.

( 4 ) DEFENCE of the accused persons was that they were innocent, falsely implicated in the case on hand and no occurrence much less the occurrence alleged had taken place.

( 5 ) DURING trial the prosecution examined 15 witnesses in all out of which P. Ws. 1 to 4 are eye-witnesses to the alleged occurrence and the other witnesses are Dr. G. Veera Nagi Reddi, who held postmortem examination on the dead body of the deceased, and the Investigating Officer besides formal witnesses. Upon conclusion of the trial, the accused persons were convicted, as stated above, and on appeals being preferred convictions and sentences of the appellants have been confirmed by the High Court whereas 3 accused persons, as stated above, have been acquitted. Hence this appeal by speci