The judgment emphasizes the high standard of proof required in cases based on circumstantial evidence and the need for a complete chain of events connecting the accused with the crime.

JUDGMENT :

(C. Praveen Kumar, J.)

The present Criminal Appeal came to be filed under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgment, dated 16.10.2015, in Sessions Case No.136 of 2012 on the file of the learned Principal Sessions Judge, Nellore.

2. Sole accused in Sessions Case No.136 of 2012 is the appellant herein. He was tried for an offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. for causing the death of one Kande Narasimhulu (hereinafter, referred to as “the deceased”) on 15. 12.2010 during night hours, after 8:00 P.M. at the motor shed situated in the fields of one Syed Khaja Rasool at Renamala Village of Kondapuram Mandal, by beating him with a stick indiscriminately all over his body.

3. Vide judgment, dated 16.10.2015, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. and accordingly, sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.500/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month.

4. The facts, as spelt out from the evidence of prosecution witnesses, are as under:-

P.W.1 is the wife of the deceased and P.W.11 is the daughter of the deceased. The accused is son of P.W.1’s junior maternal aunt. P.W.1 along with one Malyadri (P.W.2) jointly purchased Ac.1-00 cs of land and subsequently, divided the same and each of them took Ac.0-50 cents of land. The water to the said land was being drawn from the irrigation canal through the land of the accused. Disputes arose between the accused and the deceased with regard to drawal of water to the land, as the accused obstructed the flow of water to the land of the deceased by raising a cross bund. When P.W.1 questioned the accused, he is said to have replied that P.W.1 cannot have any right to draw water in that manner. Pursuant to a report lodged in Kondapuram Police Station, a panchayat was held in which the elders decided that P.W.1 also has a right to draw water through the land of the accused, from the said irrigation canal. The above incident is said to have taken place about two years prior to the death of the deceased and since then, they were not on talking terms.

While so, the daughter of the elder sister of P.W.1 was given in marriage to the accused about two years prior to the incident. Disputes arose between the accused and his wife and cases were filed. It is said that the accused was coming to the house of P.W.1 and scolding them stating that they were responsible for the disputes between himself and his wife. However, cases between the accused and his wife were settled by the elders and both of them started living together happily, which was about three months prior to the incident. It is said that thereafter, the accused and the deceased were talking with each other. Since ten days prior to the death of the deceased, the accused and deceased started going together to the shop to consume liquor. On the date of incident, in the evening, the accused, while passing in front of the house of P.W.1, asked the deceased to come for consuming liquor. When questioned by P.W.1 as to why he was going with the accused and consuming liquor, he replied that he would return early. However, on that day, the deceased did not return home. During that night, herself, her son, her son-in-law and other relatives searched for the deceased but in vain. P.W.11 seems to have told P.W.1 that she saw the deceased going with the accused and asked him not to go along with him due to earlier disputes. They also enquired P.W.5 – liquor shop owner, who informed that accused and deceased came to his shop and after consuming liquor, left the shop.

On the next day morning, P.W.3 informed them that he saw the dead body of the deceased lying in a pool of blood at the motor shed situated in their lands. P.W.1 and others went there and saw the dead body of the deceased and later, they went to Kondapuram Police Station and lodged a report – Ex.P-1 before P.W.14, which came