In Brief
On 18 January 2007, the deceased Rajasekhar Reddy was fatally attacked by an unlawful assembly armed with hunting sickles near Kurnool. The trial court convicted accused Nos. 1–3 of murder and unlawful assembly; the High Court reversed this, acquitting all accused. The Supreme Court held the High Court erred by overweighting minor contradictions, doubting injured eyewitnesses without cause, and discarding the FIR based on alleged interpolation never raised at trial. The Court restored the trial court's conviction, emphasizing that injured eyewitnesses have heightened credibility and the seven-hour FIR delay—within statutory limits—was not fatal to the prosecution's case.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.