JUDGMENT :

1. The deceased, Venkatram Reddy, owned some agricultural land bearing Survey No. 678 in Village Pedched. The paddy crop that had been sown on this land had been harvested four or five days earlier to the date of the incident and the deceased would sleep in the fields at night to keep a watch on the paddy and the deceased as per routine, went to the fields on the evening of the 1st of May, 2004. At about 6:30A.M. the next morning P.W. 6, the servant of the family, informed the family members that Venkatram Reddy had been murdered and the injuries had been caused with an axe. P.W. 1, the son of the deceased, rushed to the field and found that his father was lying dead on which he registered a First Information Report against unknown persons. During the course of the investigation it transpired that P.W. 2, another son of the deceased, had seen the wife of A1 requesting the deceased to go to the fields the next morning as the paddy had to be thrashed and that P.W. 9 had seen A1, his wife and son returning on a bullock cart at mid night on the 1st of April, 2004 and when he had questioned them they told him that they were going to the field to thrash the paddy crop.

P.W. 9 a