RAMESH MADHAV BAPAT, J.

( 1 ) ACCUSED No. 1, who was tried along with accused No. 2, is the appellant herein. A-1 was tried by the learned II Additional sessions Judge, Rajahmundry, in Sessions case No. 109/1997 for the offences punishable under Section 302 of the Indian penal Code and under Section 27 of the indian Arms Act whereas A-2 was tried for the offences punishable under Sections 201 and 218 of the Indian Penal Code. On evidence, learned Judge convicted A-1 of the offences punishable under Section 302 i. P. C. , and sentenced him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of rs. 2,000/-, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for six months and acquitted a-2 of all the charges.

( 2 ) THE prosecution story can be briefly narrated as follows. The deceased Ch. Kameswara Rao was working as a Sentry in y. Ramavaram police station and he was on duty in the night of 12-7-1994 guarding the backside of the police station. P. Ws. 1 to 5 were Police Constables who were also on duty on the date of incident.

( 3 ) P. W. 1 was posted as a Sentry from 12 midnight to 2 a. m. , on the roof top of the police station. P. W. 2 was doing duty in front of the police station. A-1 was posted for sentry duty and A-2 was posted for Guard duty on the backside of the police station. In all there were 7 A. P. S. P. men, 5 Constables and 2 Head Constables as the said police station was prone to naxalite attack.

( 4 ) IT is the further case of the prosecution that D. S. P.- P. W. 12 informed them that devanna Dalam had warned about the attack on the police station. It is the further case of the prosecution that there was no electricity power on the date of incident. For every two hours, police used to exchange their duties. On the date of incident, at about 12 in the night, it started raining. As there was no top shelter on the top of the police station, P. W. 3 came and informed P. W. 1 to do sentry duty in front of the police station along with other Sentries already posted there. At about 12. 15 a. m. , P. W. 3 heard the sounds of barking of dogs. He sent P. W. 2, another Sentry, to find out what was happening at the backside of the police station. P. W. 2 went to the backside of the police station and the deceased told him that he had frightened the dogs and, therefore, they were barking. At about 12. 15 a. m. P. Ws. 1 and 2 heard the sounds of calling. P. W. 2 sent P. W. 1 to find out who was calling. When enquired, the deceased asked him to stay as a Guard for some time so that he would call his reliever from the tent. The deceased went and returned immediately and sent back P. W. 1. At about 1. 05 a. m. , again they heard the sounds of calling and also the sounds of "nene", P. W. 2 replied "don tworry". At about 1. 15 a. m. , P. Ws. 1 to 4 heard the sounds of rifle firing from the backside of the police station. According to p. W. 2 he heard the firing from the rifle of a-1. P. W. 2 again shouted "don t worry. Again A-1 fired. P. W. 2 alerted the police. P. W. 5 came out of the police station with a torch and focused on the backside of the police station. He found a person lying on the ground near the trench. P. Ws. 1, 2 and 4 also came there. At that time A-l was posted at the sentry post. P. Ws. 1 to 5 identified the body as that of the Police Constable P. C. 377 a. P. S. P. A-1 was brought along with his rifle. On the intervening night of 12/13-7-1994 one K. Suryanarayana, in-charge of Y. Ramavaram Police Station and A-2 presented a report to A. S. I. , which was registered as Crime No. 8/1994 under section 174 Cr. P. C The F. I. R. was sent to p. W. 11, C. I. of Police, who took up further investigation.

( 5 ) P. W. 11, C. I. of Police, proceeded to the scene of offence and got it photographed with the help of P. W. 8. He also prepared a sketch of the scene of offence and also prepared observation report of the scene of offence in the presence of P. W. 7. Ex. P-14 is the observation report. P. W. 11 seized SLR weapon fr

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