Chiluveru Sanjeeva v. The State Of A.P.,

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR AND THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE T.AMARNATH GOUD CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.388 OF 2011 JUDGMENT: (per Hon'ble Sri Justice T.Amarnath Goud) This Criminal Appeal is filed against the Judgment dated 10.08.2010 in S.C.No.513 of 2008 on the file of the Court of Principal Sessions Judge, Warangal (for short, Court below). The appellant herein is the sole accused in S.C.No.513 of 2008. He was tried on a charge under Section 302 of IPC and convicted of the said charge and sentenced to imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- with a further default clause prison sentence. Assailing the same, he came up with this appeal. 2.

The case of the prosecution is that on 04.12.2004 at about 10.00 hours, P.W.1 came to the Police Station, Matwada, Warangal District, and gave a written report (Ex.P.1) stating that he was working as a Mason in the construction of a new house of P.W.4; that the accused was working as a watchman of the said building; that the accused had a live-in relationship with a woman i.e., the deceased, for the past couple of months; that both were staying together in the construction site; that on 04.12.2004 at about 8.00 am., when he along with P.W.2 visited the site to attend the construction work, they found the body of the said woman in a gunny bag besides the construction site in the sand; that there were injuries on the face and stomach of her body and that the accused was not present at the building site. Basing on the said complaint, a case was registered on 04.12.2004 i.e., FIR No.385 of

2004 under Section 174 of Cr.P.C. and later the same was altered by taking cognizance of the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC.

3.

P.W.7, the Doctor who conducted the post mortem, deposed that the cause of death to the best of his knowledge and belief was due to multiple injuries and Ex.P5 is the post mortem report. A perusal of the record discloses that the motive for her death was that on 04.12.2004 at around 2.00 am., when the accused forced the deceased woman to satisfy his lust and she refused the same, the accused picked up a brick and beat the deceased indiscriminately on her face, chest and other parts of the body and killed her. The deceased woman was identified as Smt.Vijaya, native of Mulug, Ghanpur area.

4.

The evidence of P.Ws.1 to 4 would show that the deceased and accused were living together at the construction site and that the deceased and the accused also stayed together on the night prior to the morning when the body of the deceased was found. The accused was absconding subsequently. It can be said that based upon the fact that the accused and the deceased stayed together during the night prior to the morning when the dead body was found and the factum of absconding of the accused from the site would show that the accused must have definite knowledge about the cause of death of the deceased or in any event he should explain the same. Thus, in the teeth of the last seen theory and as per the application of Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, the burden of showing how the deceased died lies upon the accused

and, on his failure, it can be inferred that the accused is responsible for the death as he did not explain anything as to the cause of the death of the deceased. Apart from the same, P.W.5 gave a statement that the accused came to him on 15.12.2004 at about 8.00 am and told that he killed his counterpart by hitting her with a brick as she was having illegal contacts with others in the nights in addition to him and that due to fear of the police, he escaped from the place of offence and requested to surrender him before the police. Accordingly, P.W.5 took the accused to Matwada Police Station and surrendered him before the Circle Inspector of Police, Matwada Police Station on 15.12.2004. 5.

In view of the above reasons, the criminal appeal is dismissed confirming the judgment of the Court below dated 19.08.2010 in S.C.No.513 of 2008.

____________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J ________________________ T.AMARNATH GOUD, J Date: 20.10.2017 TJMR