JUDGMENT :

This appeal is directed against the judgment and conviction dated 23.10.2019 and order of sentence dated 28.10.2019 rendered by the Court of IX Additional District and Sessions Judge, Bangalore Rural District, Bangalore (hereinafter for brevity referred to as the ‘trial Court’) in S.C.No.166/2016, convicting the appellants/accused Nos.1 to 3 for the offences punishable under sections 302, 201 read with 34 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter for brevity referred to as the ‘IPC’) and sentencing the accused Nos.1 to 3 to undergo life imprisonment and pay fine of Rs.10,000/-each for the offence punishable under section 302 of IPC and further sentencing the accused Nos.1 to 3 to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two years and to pay fine of Rs.5,000/-each for the offence punishable under section 201 of IPC. Whereas in this appeal, the appellants/accused Nos.1 to 3 are seeking intervention in the aforesaid judgment of conviction and order of sentence, by submitting to consideration the grounds urged in the appeal and consequently, seeking for setting aside the judgment of conviction and order of sentence rendered in the aforesaid case against them and acquit them of the offences punishable under sections 302, 201 read with 34 of IPC.

2. Heard learned counsel Sri.Mohankumar appearing for the appellants/accused and Smt.Rashmi Jadhav, learned HCGP appearing for the respondent State and perused the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence rendered by the trial Court in S.C.No.166/2016.

3. The factual matrix of the appeal for consideration in this appeal is as under:

It is transpired in the case of the prosecution that, accused Nos.1, 2 and 3 had advised or given caution to deceased Marappa about eve-teasing and closely moving with wife of accused No.2 namely Shaheena and in this regard, some quarrel took place between accused Nos.1, 2 and 3 and deceased Marappa. At the time when altercation took between them, CW.4 (PW.1) -Ramanjini and CW.5 (PW.4) -Raja intervened and advised the deceased Marappa to rectify his mistake. But the deceased did not rectify his mistake and continued his habit of eve-teasing and also closely moving with the wife of accused No.2. Therefore, accused Nos.1, 2 and 3 decided to eliminate the deceased Marappa. In order to achieve the said intention, on 07.05.2016, the accused Nos.1, 2 and 3 had preserved the deadly weapon like long chopper and chilly powder packet in the auto-rickshaw of accused No.3 -Mohammed Navaaz @ Navaaz bearing No.KA.05.AC.7964. On the same day, at around 7.30 p.m., the accused Nos.1, 2 and 3 together visited Dairy Circle, Bangalore, in the said auto-rickshaw, where the deceased Marappa and PW.1 – Ramanjini and PW.4 – Raja, who have been cited as witnesses in the charge-sheet as CW.4 and CW.5, were talking to each other and the accused persons asked the deceased Marappa to accompany them in their auto-rickshaw as they had some work with him and also gave him an assurance him to provide alcohol, as he had habit of consuming alcohol. Accordingly, the accused persons took the deceased Marappa with them in the auto-rickshaw belonging to accused No.3 and thereafter, on the same day, during night hours, the accused persons took the deceased to an abandoned house located at Naidu Layout towards northern side of Basapura Subhash Nagar Road wherein the accused made Marappa to consume alcohol and when the deceased Marappa was in an intoxicated stage, he had addressed the accused persons about their objection to talk with Shaheena, wife of accused No.2. At that time, the accused No.1 Rafeeq @ Dobh brought long chopper and accused No.3 Mohammed Navaaz @ Navaaz brought the packet containing chilly powder from the auto-rickshaw and accused No.3 sprinkled the chilly powder to the eyes of deceased Marappa, accused No.2 -Sadiq Ahmed held both hands of the deceased firmly on his back and accused No.1 chopped the head and right hand of Marappa with long chopper and mercilessly