KRISHNAMURTHY Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant appeal filed by the appellant- Krishnamurthy (Original Accused no. 2) under Article 136 of the Constitution of India is directed against the judgment and order dtd. 27/10/2009 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras in Criminal Appeal No. 734 of 2008, whereby the High Court had dismissed the appeal of the present appellant and confirmed the judgment of conviction and sentence passed against him by the Sessions Court, Cuddalore (hereinafter referred to as the "Sessions Court") in Sessions Case No. 101 of 2007.

(2.) Initially, three accused named - Govindaraj, Krishnamurthy and Selvaraj were charged and tried before the Sessions Court, which after appreciating the evidence on record convicted and sentenced the accused no. 1 - Govindaraj for the offences under Ss. 294(b), 324 and 302 r/w Sec. 34 of IPC; convicted and sentenced the accused no. 2- Krishnamurthy for the offence under Sec. 302 of IPC and convicted and sentenced the accused no. 3- Selvaraj for the offence under Sec. 302 r/w Sec. 34 of IPC. The High Court in the appeal preferred by all the three accused, vide the impugned judgment and order dismissed the appeal of accused no. 2 i.e., the present appellant and modified the judgment and order of conviction and sentence of accused no. 1 by convicting him for the offence under Ss. 324 and 294(b) of IPC and sentenced him to undergo two years of rigorous imprisonment for the offence under Sec. 324 of IPC, and to pay a fine of Rs.500.00 for the offence under Sec. 294(b) of IPC. The High Court also modified the judgement and order of conviction and sentence of accused no. 3, by convicting him for the offence under Sec. 323 of IPC alone and directing him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one year for the said offence.

(3.) The judgment and order passed by the High Court qua the accused nos. 1 and 3 have neither been challenged by them, nor the State has preferred any appeal against the impugned judgment acquitting the accused nos. 1 and 3 for the offence under Sec. 302 r/w Sec. 34 of IPC. The present appeal has been filed only by the accused no. 2 challenging the impugned judgment convicting him for the offence under Sec. 302 and sentencing him to the life imprisonment.