Telangana High Court
Udari Laxman And Lachaiah vs The State Of Telangana on 3 September, 2021
Author: B. Vijaysen Reddy
Bench: B. Vijaysen Reddy
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE B. VIJAYSEN REDDY
CRIMINAL PETITION NO.6379 OF 2021
ORDER:
The criminal petition is filed under Section 437 and 439 Cr.P.C. seeking bail to the petitioner, who is A5 in S.C.No.291 of 2021 on the file of the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Karimnagar, which arises out of Cr.No.21 of 2021 on the file of the Ramagiri Police Station.
2. On receipt of information that some persons have attacked two persons on the road near Kalvacharla Village, Ramagiri Mandal, Peddapalli District, A. Mahender (L.W.169), S.I. of Police, Ramagiri Police Station, made an entry in the General Diary and proceeded to the scene of offence by informing the Assistant Commissioner of Police (L.W.182), Godavarikhani, Ramagundam Commissionerate. L.W.169 reached the place of incident at 14.50 hours. By the time he reached the spot, two persons were found grievously injured and were being shifted into 108 Ambulance. The injured were identified as Gattu Vaman Rao (deceased No.1) and P.V. Nagamani (deceased No.2), both advocates by profession. A Creta car bearing No.TS 10 EJ 2828 with broken window panes was found at the scene of offence. One Kasani Sathish (L.W.2), driver of the injured persons, informed that the injured were attacked by two persons with hunting sickles and fled away in a black colour Brezza Car. The S.I. of Police escorted the ambulance along with L.W.2 to the District Hospital, Peddapalli. The ambulance carrying D1 and D2 reached the Government Hospital at about 15.20 hours and the Duty Doctor, Civil Assistant Surgeon, District Hospital, Peddapalli, examined the deceased and declared the D1 as dead at 15.28 hours and D2 as dead at 15.30 hours. 2
3. In the meanwhile, Gattu Kishan Rao, the father of Gattu Vaman Rao, D1, lodged a complaint with the Ramagiri Police Station on 17.02.201 stating that his son and daughter-in-law are practicing advocates in the High Court. On 17.02.2021, both of them came to Manthani Court in regard to Ramalayam Committee of their village and his son obtained his signatures as well as that of his younger son, Indra Shekar Rao, on a writ petition to be filed in the High Court against Veldi Vasanth Rao and Gattu Vijay Kumar. Later at about 14.40 hours, he received a phone call from a person, who introduced himself as Satish, driver of his son (L.W.2), that D1 and D2 were hacked with hunting sickles after they crossed Kalvacherla petrol bunk culvert to Manthani - Peddapalli highway. He went to mortuary of the Government Hospital and noticed that intestines of his son Vaman Rao came out from the stomach and his daughter-in-law, Nagamani, was having cut injury on hand and injuries on stomach and waist. He stated that a new committee was formed for the Sriram Swamy Gopalaswamy Temple, Gunjapadugu village with Mandal Presdient Kunta Srinivas (A1) Akkapaka Kumar (A3) and Veldi Vasantha Rao (A6) and they summoned temple secretary Indra Shekar Rao and conducted a meeting without prior permission of Village Sarpanch and also made TOM TOM in the village. When the village Sarapnach Gunjapadugu asked for suggestion of Advocate Vaman Rao and Nagamani about the illegal construction of Peddamma Temple they had given advice against the illegal house construction of Kunta Srinivas. Resenting against the same and as per the advice and at the behest of Veldi Vasantha Rao (A6) Kunta Srinivas (A1) and Akkapaka Kumar (A3) murdered Vaman Rao and Nagamani. He requested legal action to be taken against the said persons and other persons involved in this gruesome murder.
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4. The inquest on the body of the deceased No.1 was conducted in the presence of mediators, L.Ws.97 and 98, and the inquest on the body of the deceased No.2 was conducted in the presence of the mediators, L.Ws.99 and 100.
5. L.W.2, the driver of the deceased, produced four mobile phones viz. broken black colour IPhone, Polar while coloured I Phone, Black coloured SAMSUMG Mobile Phone and Silver coloured SAMSUNG Mobile Phone and one gold bracelet, one Titan watch, which were seized by L.W.182. One Kannoori Ashok Kumar (L.W.12) had shown the video of the deceased No.1, who uttered the name of Kunta Srinu (A1), when questioned about who had attacked him at the scene. L.w.182 examined him, recorded his statement under Section 161 Cr.P.C. and seized his mobile phone in the presence of mediators, L.Ws.107 and
108. The ACP (L.W.182) and the Constable (L.W.61) inspected the CCT footage from CCTV camera at Pannur - X road and Telangana Chowk, Ramagiri and found the movements of the deceased Nos.1 and 2 in the black coloured Creta car and also the movement of the black colour Brezza car used by the accused persons. After collecting the CCTV footages, the statements of L.Ws.60 and 62 were recorded, who copied the video footage into a CD from Hard Disk.
6. On 18.02.2021, A1 to A3 were arrested by a special team of police along with a black Brezza car without registration number. A1 and A2 were interrogated and they voluntarily confessed to have committed the murder of the deceased Nos.1 and 2 with the support of A3, A4 and A5 (Udari Laxman). The confession statements were recorded in the presence of the mediators, L.Ws.105 and 106. Pursuant to the confessional statement of A1, L.W.182 seized the black Brezza car containing blood stains on the handles on the front side doors, left side door handle, on the hand brake, inside handle of 4 the front side door etc. A1 confessed that he used one mobile phone with SIM.No.9550335444 and after committing the offence, he removed the SIM card from the mobile phone and threw the mobile phone in the waters of Sundilla Barrage and was utilizing the same SIM by inserting it in a Samsung Phone. One Samsung Phone bearing SIM.No.9550335444 was seized from the possession of A1 in the presence of L.Ws.105 and 106.
7. A2 confessed to have committed the murder of the deceased Nos.1 and 2 along with A1 and with the support of A4 and his confession was recorded by L.W.182 in the presence of two mediators, L.Ws.105 and 105. On the basis of confession of A1 and A2, A3 was apprehended.
8. Notices under Section 41-A Cr.P.C were issued to A4. On 22.02.2021, A4 confessed about his involvement in the offence in the presence of L.Ws.113 and 114. He stated that he used to look the service activity of Putta Lingamma Charitable Trust and he used to earn Rs.30,000/- per month by providing his Tractor to Gram Panchayat Manthani for garbage collection. But the deceased No.1 through Enumula Sathish (L.W.192) had made derogatory comments against him in Manthani Whatsapp group and humiliated him. Further, the deceased No.1 got his Tractor removed from the Gram Panchayat Manthani and shattered him financially. He stated that he has acquaintance with A1 and 2 and has also provided financial help to A2 and shared with them all the problems caused by the deceased No.1. At the request of A1, A4 got made two hunting sickles and provided them in his Brezza car to A1 for murdering the deceased Nos.1 and 2.
9. Notices under Section 41-A were issued to A5 on 01.03.2021 and 02.03.2201 and L.W.183 examined him. In response to notice 5 dated 03.03.2021, A5 appeared before L.W.183 on 04.03.2021 and in the presence of two mediators L.Ws.124 and 125, confessed about his involvement in the offence along with A1 to A4. A5 informed A1 through phone about the arrival of the deceased Nos.1 and 2 to Manthani Court on 17.02.2021 and he along with A3 followed the car of the deceased, as instructed by A1 in a White Creta Car belonging to A1. A5 further confessed that after the commission of the offence, he removed the SIM card from his mobile and destroyed it. L.W.183 recorded the statement of A5 in the presence of two mediators, L.Ws.124 and 125. L.W.183 seized one Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime02, touch screen cell phone with silver colour on rear side with IMEI No.356922092744262.02, IMEI!-356923092744260/02 from the house of A5 in the presence of panchas, L.Ws.124 and 125.
10. A7 was interrogated in the presence of the mediators, L.Ws.124 and 125 and he voluntarily confessed to have committed the offence by way of assisting A4, by calling A2 on phone and facilitating communication between A2 and A4 and concealing of sickles. A7 further confessed that he removed the SIM card bearing No.9494362788 from his cell phone used in the crime and threw the cell phone in the Godavari river to screen the evidence.
11. Section 41-A notices have been issued to A6, who also confessed about his involvement in the offence. Based on confession of A6, black colour touch phone, JIO sim card and Airtel sim card have been seized in the presence of mediators L.Ws.123 and 122. A1 to A3 were taken into police custody from 25.05.2021 to 03.03.2021. On 25.02.2021, L.W.183 interrogated the accused in the presence of two mediators, L.Ws.121 and 105. Similarly, the confessional statement of A2, A3 and A5 were recorded.
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12. The police have recorded the statements of 168 witnesses. L.W.2, driver of the deceased was the eyewitness. L.W.1 is the father of the deceased No.1. L.W.3 is the mother of the deceased No.1. L.Ws.4 and 5 are brother and sister of the deceased No.1. L.Ws.6 to 10 are other relatives of the deceased No.1. L.W.11 is the eyewitness to the murder of the deceased Nos.1 and 2 and he recorded the commissioned of offence by A1 and A2 in his mobile phone. L.W.12 videographed the last words of the deceased No.1 in his mobile phone wherein the deceased No.1 took the name of A1. L.W.13 accompanied L.W.12 and witness to the deceased No.1 uttering the name of A1. L.Ws.14 and 15 are the RTC bus drivers, who are eyewitnesses to the incident. L.Ws.16 and 17 are the RTC bus conductors, who are eyewitnesses to the murder of the deceased. L.Ws.18 to 20, 23 and 25 are other eyewitnesses. L.Ws.21, 22 and 24 are witnesses to the murder incident, injuries, blood on the road and car seat. L.Ws.26 to 41 are other witnesses, who have seen the incident of murder and found the deceased with injuries. L.Ws.45 to 56 are circumstantial witnesses, who spoke about the illegal construction of house and temple by A1 and enmity between A1 and the deceased No.1. L.Ws.60 to 71 are witnesses, who have extracted/checked the CCTV footages, technicians who copied CCTV footages, videographers etc. L.Ws.74 to 76 are blacksmiths, who prepared hunting sickles at the instance of A4, who paid them Rs.600/- as making charges. L.Ws.88 to 92 spoke about the enmity between A1 and the deceased No.1 regarding illegal construction of house and temple by A1. L.Ws.97 to 132 are panch witnesses to the seizure of crime property, vehicles, CCTV footages. L.W.133 is the Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Manthani, who recorded the statements of the witnesses and confession statements of the accused under Section 164 Cr.P.C. He also conducted TI Parade of the accused A1 and A2 by the 7 witnesses and also PIP of hunting sickles used in the commission of offence, by blacksmiths L.Ws.74, 75 and 76. L.Ws.134 to 139 are medical/forensic doctors, who examined the deceased Nos.1 and 2; conducted autopsy over the corpse of the deceased Nos.1 and 2 and furnished FSL reports. L.Ws.139 to 143 are Scientific Officers, who furnished FSL reports of CCTV footages.
13. The investigation revealed that all the accused including A5 are closely acquainted with each other. A1 was Party President, TRS, Manthani Mandal Wing and belongs to Tenugu community. He was previously involved in Cr.No.94 of 2017 of Godavarikhani I Town Police Station registered for the offences under Section 384, 507 and 511 IPC. A1 was previously Member of MPTC. A1 started construction of a temple in Gunjapadugu village. D1 complained to the Gunjapadugu Gram Panchayat on whatsapp that temple construction undertaken by A1 is illegal. The Gram Panchayat issued notices to A1. A1 was alleged to have constructed a house unauthorizedly and at the behest of D1, the Secretary, Gram Panchayat, Gunjapadugu issued notices to A1. These incidents generated feeling of animosity between A1 and D1. Flexis were erected by L.Ws.52 and 53 on the instructions of L.W.55 at the behest of D1 on the pillars of the under construction house of A1 and Peddamma Temple. The flexis indicated that action will be initiated under the Panchayat Raj Act, 2018 if unauthorized construction continues. L.W.4, the brother of D1 was looking after the temple from 2009. A new committee of Ramaswamy Gopalaswamy Temple was formed with the help of A6 under the Chairmanship of Papatla Satyanarayana (L.W.50) and A1 as its Convener. D1 gave a press statement that the newly formed committed was not valid.
14. A1 provided financial assistance to A2 when A2 was infected with COVID. A1 conspired with A2 and sought assistance of A2 to kill 8 D1 and D2. A3 is the resident of Gunjapadugu village, who took financial help from A1, agreed to help A1 in killing D1 and D2. A4 was close acquaintance of A1 and A2. One Putta Madhu, who is the maternal uncle of A4, had established Putta Lingamma Charitable Trust at Manthani. A4 used to look after the activities of the trust and used to provide rice to the deceased families and also nuptial threads and used to do charitable activities. A4 provided his Tractor to Manthani Gram Panchayat for collection of garbage and used to earn Rs.30,000/- per month. D1 reported through L.W.92 to the Income Tax Office regarding tax evasion by the Trust. D1 also threatened the E.O (L.W.43) of Gram Panchayat as to how the tractor of A4 was kept without permission and without inviting tenders and got the tractor removed after April 2019 thereby affecting A4 financially. A4 developed grudges against D1 and decided to eliminate D1. A5 was a caste elder for Tenugu community of Gunjapadugu village. A2 and his associates used to take suggestions from A5 regarding village matters. Notices were issued by the Gram Panchayat to A1, at the instance of D1. Three months prior to the offence, during a liquor party, A5 along with A1 and A3 conspired to kill D1.
15. A6 was a village elder, who used to do charitable activities like providing accommodation and food to his caste people in the community hall constructed by the Brahmin community. D1 was alleged that smoking and liquor consumption was allowed in the community hall and demanded Pradeep Kumar (L.W.90), care taker, to be removed. L.W.6 posted messages in the Brahmin community whatsapp group in the Gunjapadugu village that L.W.90 was not removed and he is continuing to look after the maintenance of the community hall. A6 created another whatsapp group with L.W.90 as Admin in the name of GBS officials without adding the phone numbers 9 of D1, L.W.4 and L.W.6. D1 threatened L.W.6 regarding new whatsapp group when general body meeting of Brahmin community was held on 24.01.2021. A6 bore grudge against D1 and thus, supported A1 to form a new committee of the temple, which paved way for removing L.W.4 (brother of D1) from the temple affairs. A4 used to render financial help to A7, who was attending the construction work at the site of new house of A4. D1 filed several complaints and petitions before the Government officials and High Court through his wife, D2. A1 and A6 hatched conspiracy to eliminate D1 and D2 and took assistance of A2, A3, A5 and A7 in furtherance of their conspiracy.
16. A1 and A2 made an abortive attempt to kill D1 three months prior to the incident that occurred on 17.02.2021. On that day, A1 along with A3 and A5 left in a white coloured Creta car and reached Manthani Chowrastha and noticed the car of D1 proceeding towards the Court. To confirm the arrival of D1, A1 along with A3 and A5 went to MRO office in their white Creta car, which is near the Court and noticed the car of D1. A1 asked A5 to go to Court and confirm the presence of D1 in the Court. A5 confirmed the arrival of D1 and D2 to Manthani Court and also confirmed the presence of L.Ws.47 and L.W.1 at the Court and A5 informed the same through his mobile phone to A1. A1 asked A4 to provide his black Brezza car and hunting sickles as D1 recognizes his white Creta car. A1 and A2 waited in the Brezza car for arrival of D1. As D1 did not come from the Court, A1 and A2 moved in their car to Ambedkar Chourastha and they noticed D1 coming out of the Court in his black Creta car. A1 called A3 at about 14.20 hrs and enquired about his location and ensured that D1 was coming towards Peddapalli as A3 and A5 were distinctly following the car of D1 in the Creta car of A1.
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17. A1 and A2 intercepted the car of D1 and dashed their car in opposite direction. D1 noticed A1 and A2 and asked his driver, L.W.2, to take back their car but the accused A1 got from the Brezza car and rushed towards the driver side and broke the window pane and threatened the driver, L.W.2, who got down from the vehicle and ran away to some distance. D1 tried to move towards the driver seat and attempted to take the steering, but A1 attacked D1 on hand and dragged him on the road. A1 hacked D1 on his chest, stomach and other parts of the body with hunting sickle. Meanwhile, D2, who was in the rear seat tried to get down from the car, but A2 broke the window pane and hacked with hunting sickle on her neck and waist, back side of head, due to which D2 again moved into the car and tried to escape from her rights side door of the car. But A2 went to the right side door and hacked D2 with the hunting sickle on her hand due to which D3 received severe injuries and lied in front in the car. A1 and A2 mercilessly hacked with the hunting sickles on the stomach of D1 due to which intestines of D1 burst out from the stomach and he was lying in a pool of blood. The CDR particulars and CAF particulars of the phone numbers of the A1 to A7, D1, D2 and other witnesses are detailed in Annexure V and Annexure VI of the charge sheet.
18. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that except the confession statements there is no evidence to connect the accused to the alleged crime. The police have implicated petitioner/A5 due to exchange of phone calls between A5 and A1. The incident received huge attention of the general public and since the investigation officers were under tremendous pressure to complete the investigation, they have implicated A5. Neither motive is attributed to the petitioner nor reliable and conclusive evidence is produced to prove the complicity of the petitioner. He further submits that 183 persons have 11 been cited as witnesses and charge sheet has filed on 19.05.2021. The petitioner is an agriculturist by profession and sole breadwinner in his family.
19. Learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the role of the petitioner/A5 was very crucial in this gruesome murder. He has given information about the movements of the deceased Nos.1 and 2, which helped A1 to A4 to murder the deceased Nos.1 and 2. But for the assistance of A5, the commission of gruesome murder on a highway road and that too in a broad day light could not have been possible. He further submitted that this Court dismissed the bail application of A6 vide order dated 16.08.2021 in CRLP.No.5463 of 2021.
20. In the above background, it can be seen that the murder of the deceased Nos.1 and 2 was committed in a broad day light on a Highway road leading from Karimnagar to Hyderabad when there was heavy traffic movement. In fact, the eye witnesses to the incident of murder were RTC bus drivers, conductors and passengers. The incident was also videographed by L.W.12. It is clear from the said events that there was a serious enmity between the accused persons and the deceased Nos.1 and 2 in connection with the illegal construction of house and temple by A1 in Gunjapadugu village. The sequence of events would show that the murder was pre-meditated. The accused persons waited for opportune time to murder the deceased Nos.1 and 2 whenever they visited the Manthani Court. A5 is alleged to have given information about the gruesome murder of the deceased Nos.1 and 2. The mobile phone of A5 was seized and the call data was called for.
21. Chargesheet was laid against the petitioner/A5 for the offences under Sections 120-B, 302, 201 read with Section 34 IPC. A reading of 12 the entire charge sheet reveals that A5 had acquaintance with A2 and other accused and also played an active role in commission of the gruesome murder. A5 informed to A1 about the movements of D1, which is supported by the call data records seized by the police. The active involvement of A5 in this murder is clearly made out.
22. Even though the learned counsel for the petitioner contended that investigation is complete and bail for A5 may be considered, as observed above, A5 is the close acquaintance of A2 and all accused are known to each other. Even if one accused is released, there is every likelihood of breach of peace and causing influence and interference with the material witnesses and evidence in this case.
23. Considering the seriousness of the crime, the manner in which the crime was committed, previous enmity, the eyewitnesses to the incident, the involvement of A5 and impact that would have on the locality and general public, this Court is of the view that this is not a fit case for grant of bail to the petitioner/A5. There are no merits in the petition.
The criminal petition is dismissed. Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed.
__________________ B. VIJAYSEN REDDY, J September 3, 2021 DSK