MOTILAL B. NAIK, J, J.

( 1 ) ACCUSED No. 1 in Sessions Case No. 300 of 1994 on the file of the I Additional Sessions Judge, Krishna at Machilipatnam is the appellant before us.

( 2 ) ORIGINALLY, he along with three others were tried for the following charges: A1 to A4 : Undersection447ofipca1 : Under Sections 302 and 324 IPCA2 to A4 : Under Section 302 r/w Sec. 34 IPCA2 : Under Section 324 of IPCA3 and A4 : Under Section 323 of IPC The Court below on an appreciation of the entire evidence found Accused No. 1 guilty of committing an offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000. 00, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for one year. However, the Court below acquitted Al from other charges while acquitting the other accused from all the charges levelled against them.

( 3 ) THE substance of the charges against the accused is that on 3-6-1994 at about 6. 30 p. m. at Pokkunur village, all the accused with a common intention, tress passed into the premises of the deceased and caused injuries to him as a result, he succumbed to the said injuries on 16-6-1994 while undergoing treatment.

( 4 ) THE case of the Prosecution, in a nut-shell, is as under: PW1 is the daughter of the deceased. PW2 is the brother of PW1 and son of the deceased. PW3 is the wife of PW2. PW4 is the daughter of the deceased s brother. There were disputes between the deceased and the accused with regard to a house site and the accused were claiming rights over the same. On 3-6-1994, after sunset and at the time of taking meals, when the deceased was in the house, A1 to A4 went to the house of the deceased and abused the inmates in vulgar language following which the deceased came out and asked the accused as to why they were using such vulgar language against his family members. At that stage, Al and A4 beat the deceased with a stick on his head, A2 folded the hands of the deceased and the deceased fell down on the ground when A2 kicked him. A3 twisted the leg of the deceased. At that time, PWs. l to 3 and Ratnamma who is the sister-in-law of PW1 intervened. Then A2 beat PW1 on her head with a stick and when PW2 intervened, Al beat PW2 with a stout stick. When Ratnamma intervened, A3 beat her. PWs. 4 to 6 witnessed the incident. After committing the offence, all the accused ran away. Thereafter, the deceased and the injured were taken to Chandralapadu Police Station. PW14 - Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Chandralapadu P. S. recorded the statement of the deceased. Ex. P11 is the statement on which basis PW14 registered a case in Crime No. 18 of 1994 under Section 324 read with Section 34 IPC and issued FIR under Kx. P!2. PW14 also recorded that statements of PWs. 1 to 3 and sent all the injured to Nandigama Government Hospital for treatment. Thereafter, PW14 proceeded to the scene of fence and prepared a rough sketch under Ex. P9 and examined PWs. 4 to 6. PW9 is the Civil Assistant Surgeon,-Nandigama who treated PWs. l, 2 and Rathnamma and issued wound certificates under Exs. P4, P6 and P5 respectively. As the deceased was in a critical condition, he was referred to the Government Hospital, Vijayawada for treatment.

( 5 ) PW12 - Sub-Inspector of Police took up further investigation and examined all the witnesses including the deceased. On 17-6-1994 around 12 hours, PW12 received the intimation from the hospital about the death of the deceased following which he altered the Section of law to 302 IPC. Ex. P7 is the intimation memo and Ex. PS is the altered FIR. He then sent the altered FIR to all concerned. After receiving Ex. PS, PW13 proceeded to Vijayawada Government Hospital along with PW12 and held inquest over the dead body. Ex. P3 is the inquest report and he examined PW1 Katta Rathnamma, PWs. 2 to 6 and recorded their statements on 17-6-1994. Dr. K. Krishna Prasad who conducted autopsy over the dead body of the deceased, issued Ex. PIO - postmortem certificate according to

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