IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI TUESDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF MAY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE K SURESH REDDY AND HONOURABLE SMT JUSTICE V.SUJATHA CRIMINAL APPEAL No.227 of 2017 Appeal under Section 374(2) of Cr.P.C, aggrieved by the judgment and sentenced passed in SC No. 125 of 2016 on the file of the IX Additional Sessions Judge, West Godavari at Kovvur dated 20-01-2017 for the offences Under Sections 302, 506 and 201 of IPC. Between: Chinabathina Karunakar @ Ramesh, S/o. Lazar, aged about 37 years, C/o. Thogata, Kammagudem Village, Hayathnagar Mandal, Rangareddy District, now Residing at Mallayyapeta, Rajahmundry, East Godavari District. ...APPELLANT/CONVICT NO.5420 AND The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Public Prosecutor, Through its SHO PS, Devarapally, High Court at Hyderabad. ...RESPONDENT/ RESPONDENT Counsel for the Appellant : SRI TAGORE YADAV YARAGORLA Counsel for the Respondents : PUBLIC PROSECUTOR The Court made the following JUDGMENT : APHC010311042017 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) [3528] ; i- ■ TUESDAY .THE SIXTH DAY OF MAY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE / PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE K SURESH REDDY THE HONOURABLE SMT JUSTICE V.SUJATHA CRIMINAL APPEAL NO: 227/2017 Between: Chinabathina Karunakar@ Ramesh, Eg.dt., ...APPELLANT AND The State Of Ap Rep Pp Counsel for the Appellant: ...RESPONDENT 1 .TAGORE YADAV YARAGORLA Counsel for the Respondent: 1.PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (AP) The Court made the following: JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice K. Suresh Reddy) Sole accused in S.C.No.125 of 2016 on the file of Court of IX Additional Sessions Judge, West Godavari at Kovvur, is the appellant. He was tried by the learned Additional Sessions Judge under three charges. The first charge was under Section 302 I PC. The second charge was under Section 506 IPC. 2 KSR,J& VSJ Crla_227 2017 The third charge was under Section 201 IPC. 1 Gravamen of the charge is that on 01.11.2015, at about 06.00 p.m., the accused killed his elder son ‘Bala Vijay Kumar’ (hereinafter referred deceased) at the bund of Polavaram right canal, Yernagudem road, by throttling his neck with a plastic tag, causing his death and in the same process, he has thrown the dead body into the canal and threatened P.W.1 - younger son, with dire consequences, thereby committed offences punishable under Sections 302, 506 and 201 IPC. 2. as (a) After completion of trial, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default to suffer Simple Imprisonment for a period of one year. The learned Additional Sessions Judge further convicted the accused under Section 506 IPC and sentenced him to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of 3 years. The learned Additional Sessions Judge also convicted the accused under Section 201 IPC and sentenced him to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of 3 years and also to pay a fine of Rs.500/-, in default to suffer Simple Imprisonment for a period of one year. The substantive sentences were directed to run concurrently. 3 KSR,J& VS,J Cria 227^017 Case of the prosecution, as emanated from the evidence of the prosecution witnesses in brief is as follows: The appellant, originally a resident of Hayath Nagar, Rangareddy District is presently residing at Mallayyapeta, near Manjunatha Bakery, Rajamahendravaram. The accused is a car driver by profession. The accused married one Neelima and the couple blessed with two sons ‘Vijay Kumar’ and ‘Ajay Kumar’. After the death of Neelima, due to ill-health, the accused married another lady by name Satyavathi - P.W.11. Earlier, the accused along with his wife and children used to reside at Hayath Nagar and after marrying Satyavathi, he shifted his residence to Cheedipalem village and stayed there for some time. Thereafter, the accused shifted his residence to Rajamundry. The accused sent P.W.11 for work at Ongole. On 01.11.2015, P.W.1 - Younger son of the accused and the deceased asked the accused to take them to a Church at Gowripatnam. Accordingly, at about 10.30 a.m., the accused took his both sons to a Church situated at Gowripatnam. Thereafter, (') at about 02.00 p.m., the accused took his both sons to the hotel of P.W.6 situated near the Church. The accused ordered for two plates of Pooh to both his sons. After taking tiffin, the accused took his both the sons on his motorcycle to Polavaram canal bund. Again, the accused took his both sons to the Church and at about 06.00 or 06.30 p.m., again he came to Polavaram canal bund along with his two sons. When P.W.1 questioned him, the accused \ KSR,J& VS,J , Crla_227_2017 replied stating that he is taking them to relatives’ house. After reaching canal bund, the accused parked the motorcycle at a place, instructing P.W.1 to stay there. He took the deceased along with him for some distance. Hearing the cries of the deceased, P.W.1 went there and found the accused sitting on the stomach of the deceased and throttling the neck of the deceased with a plastic tag. P.W.1 requested the accused not to kill the deceased, but, the accused threatened him with dire consequences. The deceased died on the spot due to suffocation. The accused has thrown the dead body of the deceased into the canal. Thereafter, P.W.1 escaped from that place. The accused tried to apprehend P.W.1 who hid himself behind bushes. After the accused leaving the place on his motorcycle, P.W.1 raised cries and he found passersby - P.Ws.3 and 4, who are residents of the same village. He informed them about the accused killing his elder brother. P.W.3 also found the accused going away from that place on his bike. P.Ws.3 and 4 brought P.W.1 to Yernagudem village. P.W.1 narrated entire incident to P.Ws.3 and 4. Having received the said information, P.W.4 telephoned to the Police and informed about the incident. Then, after sending information to the Police, P.Ws.3 and 4 along with other villagers went to the scene of offence and were searching for the dead body in the canal. After searching for some time, ultimately, the dead body of deceased was retrieved from the canal and placed on the bund. P.W.1 identified the dead body as that of his elder brother (deceased). P.W.16 - ASI, Devarapalli Police Station separated P.W.1 from the mob and recorded 5 KSR,J& VS,I Cria 227 2017 his statement. On the basis of the same, he registered a case in Cr.No.217 of 2015 on Devarapalli Police Station under Section 302 IPC. He issued copies of FIRs to all the concerned. FIR is marked as Ex.P.11. On the same day, at about 10.30 p.m., P.W.18 - C.l. of Police, Kowur town received information about registration of Cr.No.217 of 2015. Immediately, he went to Devarapalli Police Station, collected copy of FIR and went to the scene of offence and found the dead body. He posted a guard at that place. As it was late in the night, he did not proceed with further investigation on 01.11.2025. On 02.11.2015, at about 07.00 a.m., he went to the scene of offence and prepared an observation report (Ex.P.2) in the presence of mediators. He also prepared a rough sketch (Ex.P.12) at the scene of offence. He seized M.Os.2 to 8 at the scene of offence. He held inquest over the dead body in the presence of P.W.12 and another. Inquest report is marked as Ex.P.3. At the inquest, he recorded statements of P.Ws.1 to 3 and two others. After inquest he sent the dead body for postmortem examination through P.W.15 - Corpse constable. (ii) P.W.14 - Civil Assistant Surgeon conducted autopsy over the dead body of the deceased. He opined the cause of death was due to cardio respiratory failure due to shock due asphyxia due to strangulation. He issued postmortem report (Ex.P.9). 6 KSR,J& VS,J Crla_227_2017 P.W.18 rscorded statsments of other witnesses also. He seized M.Os.1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 13 under the panchanama. Further, investigation taken over by P.W.19 - C.l. of Police, Kovvur Rural Circle. On 06.11.2015, having received the information about registration of Cr.No.217 of 2015, P.W.19 took up further investigation. On 08.11.2015, on credible information, he arrested the accused at T road junction, Devarapalli in the presence of mediators. The accused said to have confessed before him about the commission of offence under Ex.P.4. During the course of interrogation, the accused confessed stating that he killed two other ladies by name ‘Sony’ and ‘Parvathi’. On the basis of the said confession, the skeleton of ‘Parvathi recovered which was the subject matter of S.C.No.235 of 2017 on the file of Court of V Additional Sessions Judge, Rajamahendravaram. On the confession made by the accused, P.W.19 seized bunch of plastic tags marked as M.0.9 from the house of the accused in the presence of mediators. After gathering entire material and after completion of investigation, P.W.19 filed the charge sheet. (iii) was was 4. In support of its case, the prosecution examined P.Ws. 1 to 19, marked exhibits PI to PI 5 and exhibited M.Os.1 to 13. On behalf of the defence Ex.DI to D3 have been marked. When the accused was examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C., he denied the incriminating evidence appearing against him. 7 KSR,J& VS;J Cria 227^2017 5. Accepting the evidence of prosecution witnesses, the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted the accused as aforesaid. Heard Sri. Tagore Yadav Yaragorla, learned counsel for the appellant and Sri. Marri Venkata Ramana, learned Additional Public Prosecutor. We 6. have carefully analyzed the entire evidence on record. P.W.1 is none other than the younger son of the accused and is the eye witness to the said incident. P.W.2 is the person before whom the accused made extra judicial confession about commission of murder of his eider son. P.Ws.3 and 4 are the villagers before whom P.W.1 has disclosed the entire episode. P.W.5 is also the villager who is having agricultural lands near the scene of offence. P.W.6 is running a hotel and he saw the accused taking his two sons to his hotel at about 02.00 p.m., and provided two plates of Poori to both his sons. P.W.7 is the person who is working as a clerk in ‘Car Fashions’ at Rajamundry, in whose shop the accused purchased plastic wheel tags. P.W.8 is the person who is running a barber shop, who also witnessed the accused taking both his children on motorcycle on 01.11.2015. P.W.9 is the pastor in the Church where the accused along with his two sons offered prayers on 01.11.2015. P.W.10 is working as guard near Cosmopolitan Club, Rajamundry who stated that the accused kept his motorcycle in the said club, wife of the accused. P.W.12 is inquest panch, P.W.13 is photographer, P.W.14 is the doctor who conducted post 7. nd P.W.11 is none other than the 2 KSR,J& VS,J Crla_227_2017 mortem examination, P.W.15 is the corpse constabie, P.Ws.16, 18 and 19 the investigating officers and P.W.17 is the Principal Junior Civil Judge, Kowur, who recorded 164 Cr.P.C. statement of P.Ws.1, 2, 8 and 11. are 8. P.W.1, who is the second son of the accused and who is eye witness in the case is the star witness. P.W.1 in his evidence categorically stated that 01.11.2015, the accused took the deceased and himself to on a Church situated at Gowripatnam and thereafter went to Polavaram canal bund, stated that once again the accused took the deceased and P.W.1 He further to Church and returned to Polavaram canal bund at about 06.00 or 06.30 p.m. P.W.1 further deposed that after reaching the canal bund, the accused parked motorcycle, asking P.W.1 to remain there. It is further stated that the accused took the deceased to some distance on the canal bund. Having heard the cries, P.W.1 went to the scene of offence and saw the accused sitting on the stomach of the deceased and strangulating the deceased with plastic tag. P.W.1 further stated that when he interfered with the accused, the latter the threatened him with dire consequences. As P.W.1 was aged about 10 or 11 years at the time of offence, he could not do anything except witnessing the incident. After the deceased breathed his last, P.W.1 went behind bushes and hid himself. It is further evidence of P.W.1 that after the accused left the place, he came out and ran on the road where he found P.Ws.3 and 4. Immediately, P.W.1 disclosed entire episode to P.Ws.3 and 4. Thereafter, P.Ws.3 and 4 9 KSR,J& VS;J Cria 21T_1QV1 took P.W.1 to the village and telephoned to Police. Thereafter, P.W.3 and 4 along with others went to the scene of offence shown by P.W.1 and were trying to trace the dead body. At that juncture, on receipt of information, P.W.16 and his staff arrived. After searching for some time, the villagers could able to retrieve the dead body from the canal. Thereafter, P.W.16 received report vide Ex.P.10 from P.W.1 and set the criminal law into motion. As such, the evidence of P.W.1 coupled with the evidence of P.Ws.3 and 4 go to show that the accused killed his elder son (deceased). P.W.6 is the person who is running hotel, who also deposed that on 01.11.2015, at about 02.00 p.m., the accused along with his both sons came to his hotel and the deceased as well as P.W.1 ate one plate of Poori each. P.W.6 further stated that at about 06.30 the accused alone came to his hotel and had tea and proceeded towards Rajamundry side. P.W.9 - Pastor of the Church situated at Gowripatnam, in his evidence has stated that the accused along with deceased and P.W.1 visited the Church and offered prayers. P.W.7, who is working as clerk in ‘Car Fashions’ at Rajamundry in his evidence has specifically stated that the accused purchased wheel tags from his shop. Of P.W.7 could not identify the accused. P.W.11 is none other than the 2"^ wife of the accused. P.W.11, in her evidence has categorically stated that p.m course she came to know about the accused killing the deceased through P.W.2 before whom the accused made extra judicial confession. P.W.11, in her the accused evidence stated that on 01.11.2015, at about 09.30 a.m. 10 KSR,J& VS,J Cria 227 2017 telephoned to her and informed her stating that he is going to Church along with two children. On the same day, at about 05.30 p.m., P.W.11 telephoned to the accused and came to know that the accused was at the Church. After returning from the duties, P.W.11 telephoned to the accused at about 08.30 p.m., but there was no response from the accused. Thereafter, she telephoned to P.W.2 who informed her stating that the accused killed his elder son (deceased) and also came to know that P.W.1 was missing. P.W.10 is the security guard at Cosmopolitan Club, Rajamundry who stated that on 01.11.2015, at about 08.00 p.m., the accused parked M.0.7 - Motorcycle, in the said club and handed over the keys to him stating that he should handover the keys to his nephew who would come shortly. Having analyzed the evidence carefully, we are of the opinion that there 9. is nothing to disbelieve the evidence of P.W.1, who is the younger son of the accused. Though P.W.1 was cross-examined by the defence, nothing adverse has been elicited from him. Further, the evidence of P.Ws.6 and 9 also establish that the deceased was last seen in the company of the accused. Apart from the above evidence, the evidence of P.Ws.3 and 4 also lends corroboration to the evidence of P.Ws.1, 6 and 9. Having carefully analyzed the entire evidence on record, we have no hesitation to come to a conclusion that the accused has committed murder of his elder son (deceased). The prosecution could able to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable 11 KSR,J& VS,J Cria 227 2017 doubt with the evidence of P.Ws.1, 3, 4, 6 and 9. In view of the above facts and circumstances, the convictions and sentences recorded by learned Additional Sessions Judge needs no interference. In the result, Criminal Appeal is dismissed, confirming the convictions 10. and sentences recorded by learned IX Additional Sessions Judge, West Godavari at Kovvur in S.C.No.125 of 2016, dated 20.01.2017. As the appellant was already convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life in S.C.No.235 of 2017 on the file of V Additional Sessions Judge, Rajamahendravaram, the sentence imposed in the present Sessions Case i.e. S.C.No.125 of 2016, is also directed to run concurrently along with the sentence imposed in the above sessions case. As a sequel, interlocutory applications pending, if any, shall also stand closed. SD/- V.SATYANARAYANA DEPUT^^EGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER To 1. The IX Additional Sessions Judge, Kovvur, West Godavari District. 2. The V Additional Sessions Judge, Rajamahendravaram, East Godavari District. 3. The Superintendent, Central Prison, Rajamahendravaram, East Godavari District. 4. One CC to Sri Tagore Yadav Yaragorla, Advocate [OPUC] 5. Two CCs to the Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravathi [OUT] 6. Three CD Copies TK I TAG HIGH COURT DATED:06/05/2025 JUDGMENT o ^ CRLA.No.227 of 2017 I “ 5 AUG 2075 S Current Section . DISMISSING THE CRIMINAL PETITION