JUDGMENT :

PANKAJ MITHAL, J.

1. All eleven accused persons pursuant to the FIR registered as Crime No. 109/1999 dated 11.09.1999 were acquitted by the trial court for offences under Sections 143, 147, 148, 323, 324, 307, 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (“the IPC”) Police Station: Puttur Town Circle, District: Dakshina Kannada, Mangalore. The acquittal of nine of them has been affirmed by the High Court except for accused Nos. 1 and 3, i.e. Krishnappa Naika @ Kittu Naika and Fedrick Cutinha, who have been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC with life imprisonment and under Section 326 read with Section 34 of the IPC for causing grievous injuries with imprisonment of five years.

2. Aggrieved by the above conviction, the accused-A1 and A3 have preferred separate appeals as above. The main appeal is that of A3, i.e. Fedrick Cutinha.

3. We have heard Mr. S.N. Bhat, learned Senior Counsel on behalf of the appellant/accused A3 in the main appeal and Ms. N. Annapoorani, learned counsel for the appellant/accused A1 in criminal appeal no. 2265 of 2010 as well as the State counsel.

4. The story as set out in the FIR, lodged by one Honnappa Gowda rev