Supreme Court quashes HC verdict, restores trial court order convicting 3 in murder case

The Supreme Court on Monday quashed a verdict of the High Court for the united Andhra Pradesh, which had acquitted three people in a 2007 murder case, saying the evidence of witnesses cannot be discarded solely on the ground that they were relatives of the deceased.

The apex court restored the trial court order which had convicted three accused for the offences, including under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said there were no major or material contradictions in the deposition of the eye-witnesses and injured eye-witnesses and they were consistent insofar as these three accused are concerned.

"Having gone through the reasoning given by the High Court, we are of the opinion that the High Court has unnecessarily given weightage to some minor contradictions. The contradictions, if any, are not material contradictions which can affect the case of the prosecution as a whole," the bench said.

he top court delivered its verdict on the appeals filed by the State as well as the original complainant who had challenged the High Court's February 2018 judgement. Besides acquitting the three accused, the High Court had also dismissed the appeal filed by the complainant who had challenged the trial court order acquitting eight other accused in the case. According to the prosecution, on January 18, 2007, all the accused had formed an unlawful assembly and surrounded a vehicle in which victim Rajasekhar Reddy and others were travelling.

The police alleged that the accused had attacked the occupants of the vehicle in which Reddy had died while some others sustained injuries. The investigating officer had filed a charge-sheet against 11 accused for various alleged offences, including that of murder.

The accused had told the trial court that they were falsely implicated in the case because of their political rivalry and past enmity. The trial court had held three accused guilty of the offences, including that of murder, and awarded them life imprisonment. However, the trial court had acquitted eight accused of all the charges levelled against them. The three accused, who were convicted, had filed appeal in the High Court while the complainant had challenged the acquittal of the eight accused.

The State as well as the complainant had moved the apex court against the High Court verdict acquitting the three accused. The complainant had also filed an appeal in the top court against the High Court verdict confirming the acquittal of the other eight accused. The bench dismissed the appeal filed by the complainant against the acquittal of the eight accused. It noted that the High Court has committed a "grave error" in reversing the judgment passed by the trial court which had convicted the three accused, who were the "main assailants".

"Merely because the witnesses were the relatives of the deceased, their evidence cannot be discarded solely on the aforesaid ground. Therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the High Court has materially erred in discarding the deposition/evidence of ..," it said.

The bench allowed the appeals filed by the State and the complainant against the acquittal of these three accused and set aside the High Court verdict in this regard. The apex court directed the accused -- Kasireddy Ramakrishna Reddy, Kasireddy Rambhupal Reddy and Kasireddy Venkateswara Reddy to surrender within four weeks to undergo the remaining sentence.