An appellate court must provide compelling reasons to overturn a trial court's acquittal, reinforcing the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof on the prosecution.

J U D G M E N T

SANJAY KUMAR, J

1. The two appellants before us were implicated in FIR No. 26 of 2005 registered under Sections 143 , 147 , 148 and 302 read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ( IPC ), by Bannerghatta Police Station, Bangalore Rural District. They were tried by the learned Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court-II, Bangalore Rural District, in Sessions Case No. 232 of 2005, along with three other accused persons, for offences under the aforesaid provisions and also Section 120B IPC . By judgment dated 03.05.2006, the Trial Court acquitted all five of them of all charges. Aggrieved by their acquittal, the State of Karnataka preferred Criminal Appeal No. 1544 of 2006 before the High Court. By the impugned judgment dated 29.03.2011, a Division Bench of the High Court reversed the acquittal judgment passed by the Trial Court and held all five accused guilty of offences punishable under Sections 143 , 147, 148 , 120B and 302 read with 149 IPC .

2. Aggrieved thereby, all the five accused persons joined together in filing this appeal before this Court. However, as they failed to surrender after their application for exemption from surrendering was rejected, the appeal stood dismissed in its entirety, pursuant to the order dated 01.03.2012. Thereafter, upon the surrender of Ramesh, Kumara and Praveen Alexander, Appellant Nos. 1, 2 and 5, the appeal was restored in so far as they were concerned. The appeal was admitted on 28.03.2016 and at that time, this Court dismissed the appeal in so far as Appellant Nos. 3 and 4 were concerned, as they had not surrendered. Praveen Alexander, Appellant No. 5, expired thereafter and taking note of the same, vide order dated 01.04.2019, this Court dismissed the appeal in so far as he was concerned on the ground of abatement. In effect, only Appellant Nos. 1 and 2 remain in the picture. They were granted bail by this Court on 29.04.2019.

3. The crucial aspect to be noted first and foremost is that the High Court has reversed a judgment of acquittal. The High Court was also conscious of this, as it was duly noted in paragraph 9 of the impugned judgment. The parameters for interference with an acquittal judgment being well defined, we would have to see whether the High Court was justified in doing so.

4. The case of the prosecution was that the five accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to murder Babureddy, the deceased, and attacked him with deadly weapons on 07.02.2005 at about 7:30 AM. This attack was stated to have taken place near Hullahalli Gate Bus Stand in Bangalore Rural District. The deceased was doing real estate business in partnership with M. Ramaiah (PW-1). Ramesh, Appellant No. 1 and his brother are stated to have approached the deceased for selling their land admeasuring Acs. 2.06 Guntas. Thereupon, the deceased is said to have mediated the sale of this land to one Narayanareddy (PW-10) and ₹2,50,000/- was allegedly given as advance to Appellant No. 1 and his family members by Narayanareddy (PW-10). However, about 15 days prior to the death of the deceased, Appellant No. 1 is said to have approached him along with his mother and asked him to get the sale transaction cancelled by taking back the advance amount received by them. The deceased supposedly told them to approach Narayanareddy (PW-10) directly as he was only a mediator. Appellant No. 1 is stated to have abused the deceased saying that he would teach him a lesson. This was the alleged motive for the criminal conspiracy and the consequential fatal attack upon the deceased.

5. It is the case of the prosecution that on 07.02.2005 at about 7:30 AM, the deceased was standing along with M. Ramaiah (PW-1), Munikrishnappa (PW-2) and Venkatesh (PW-3) near Hullahalli Gate Bus Stand and at that time, Ramesh, Appellant No. 1 came there on a scooter while the other accused came in an autorickshaw, armed with deadly weapons like longs (akin to swords), choppers and knives, and assaulted the deceased. The deceased was then shifted in