Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has confirmed the life sentence awarded by the court of the VI additional district and sessions judge, Markapur, to three persons for murder. They had killed one Bandla Chinnaiah of Singarapally of Prakasam district due to previous enmity.
A division bench comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice K. Kesava Rao dismissed the appeal by A. Venkateswarlu, A. Venkata Subbaiah and A. Venkataiah. It also dismissed the appeal filed by the wife of the deceased challenging the acquittal of A. Vijayamma and Yedukondalu, who were also accused in the case.
The accused had attacked Chinnaiah with chilli powder and lethal weapons on October 9, 2006, while he was returning home.
Counsel for the appellant argued that Chinnaih’s wife never cited in the case that she was a witness and the case was registered 11 hours after the offence. The deposition of the other witnesses in the case stated that the accused was in no way connected to offence. Counsel said the police had foisted the case on the accused.
Counsel appearing for Vijayamma submitted that the alleged offence had taken place in winter when dawn was after 5.30 pm, and it would be difficult to identify who had sprinkled the chilli powder. The bench found that Chinnaiah’s wife had explained the delay in lodging the complaint and the trial court had appreciated the evidence in convicting the three accused. The bench also justified the trial courts decision in granting benefit of doubt in favour of the two accused.
