K'taka HC dismisses appeals of 44 accused in rioting case

Bangalore, July 3 (UNI) The Karnataka High Court today dismissed the appeals filed by 44 accused in a case relating to rioting and unlawful assembly at Kamasamudra village in Hassan district on March 8, 2002, while upholding the conviction and life sentence awarded by a sessions court.

Mr Justices B Padmaraj and Syed Abdul Nazeer upheld the verdict of the Hassan Sessions Court and dismissed the appeals, after an elaborate scrutiny of the voluminous evidence and the contentions of the accused.

The prosecution case was that the accused had formed an unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons, for rioting and had murdered one Basavaraju allegedly due to enmity over Basavaraju becoming Gram Panchayat Chairman.

The sessions judge found them guilty of murdering Basavaraju, setting fire to houses, destructing property and other offences and awarded life sentence for murder and lesser sentence and fine for lesser offences.

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