KANNUSAMI Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Three persons were convicted for the murder of the Vasu and all of them were sentenced to imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code The High Court, on appeal filed by the three convicted persons, confirmed the conviction and sentence and dismissed the appeal. They have come up before this Court by special leave.

(2.) The incident happened on 14.6.1987 around 6.30 a.m. in the field of the father of deceased Vasu. The prosecution case, in brief, is the following: Vasu is the son of P.W. 1-Muniyandi Kohar, and his wife P.W. 2-Kaliammal. The son of A-1 Sengiah had married the sister of Vasu by name Familzharasi but skirmishes occurred in that married life and she was later deserted by her husband. The said desertion was followed by the death of another son of A-1. A criminal complaint was filed by A-1 against the deceased Vasu, his father and some others alleging that they were responsible for the death of that son of A-1 but the police did not take any action on the said complaint. The incident in this case happened in the above backdrop.

(3.) Deceased Vasu went to the field for some agricultural operation during the morning hours, followed by his parents. It was then that the three accused neared the deceased. Initially there was altercation between the accused and the deceased Vasu. A-3 beat Vasu on his shoulder by a stick. Thereafter A-1 with a chopper and A2 with a knife inflicted cut injuries on Vasu. Even after Vasu fell down, A-1 and A-2 continued to inflict blows with a chopper and a knife. He sustained large number of cut injuries many of them on the neck itself. The major blood vessels on the neck were cut and Vasu had died almost instantaneously.