VELUSWAMY MUTHUSWAMY Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant Muthuswamy and his six companions viz. Palaniappan alias Palaniswamy, Veluswamy, Masayan, Gopal. Gandhi Vel and Mylswamy stand convicted by the Madras High Court under S. 302 read with S. 34 of the I.P.C. 1860 by its judgment and sentences dt. May 14, 1976 for having committed the murder of the deceased Katturaja alias Arumugham, a rich and wealthy landlord of Pollachi, and his close friend and companion deceased Khaja Moideen, and have each been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. They have also been convicted under S. 148 and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a term of three years. Both the sentences are to run concurrently.

(2.) These are two appeals one of which is by special leave by the appellants Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 who had been convicted by the Sessions Judge. Coimbatore by his finding and sentence dt. Dec. 11, 1974 which have been confirmed by the High Court in appeal. The other appeal is under S. 2 of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 preferred by the appellants 3, 6 and 7 who had been acquitted by the learned Sessions Judge on the ground that there was no reliable evidence to prove their participation in the assaults, but the High Court reversed the order of acquittal on the ground that the reasons advanced by the learned Sessions Judge were not sustainable. It must be said in all fairness to learned counsel for the appellants that he did not contend that the High Court was not justified in doing so or that interference by the High Court with the order of acquittal passed by the learned Sessions Judge was in the facts and circumstances of the present case unwarranted in the context of any special feature of the evidence peculiar to these three accused. On the contrary, the submission has been that there is total lack of legal and reliable evidence to sustain the conviction of any of the appellants under S. 302 read with S. 34 of the I.P.C. or under Section 148.

(3.) It appears that there was a deeprooted and long standing enmity between the accused No. 1 Muthuswamy, who is a big landlord of village Kalipalayam and whose elder sister was married to the maternal uncle of the deceased Katturaja as he suspected that the deceased was responsible for the murder of his father and brother. The prosecution has led evidence showing that there were several incidents and the accused Muthuswamy had a strong motive to commit the murder of the deceased. It transpires that the accused Muthuswamy tried to put up a building for a toddy shop at village Kalipalayam where the deceased was originally residing. The villagers were opposed to the setting up of the toddy shop and Muthuswamy thought that it was the deceased who had instigated the villagers. As a direct consequence of this, the accused Muthuswamy caused pelting of stones at the house of the deceased Katturaja in village Kalipalayam leading to breach of peace between the two parties and security proceedings were drawn under S. 107 of the Cr. P.C. 1973 against both the parties. The accused Muthuswamy and his companions were also prosecuted for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to one Veeran Chettiar and attempting to cause the murder of his son Subrahmanyan, both of whom belonged to the deceased Katturaja's faction. About 10 days prior to the date of occurrence, a criminal case was registered against the deceased Katturaja on the allegation that he had beaten up one Mottayyappa Mudaliar, a friend of the accused Muthuswamy. Some four days prior to the date of occurrence, a case was registered against one Kathavarayan belonging to the deceased Katturaja's party for the murder of Shanmugha Boyan belonging to the accused Muthuswamy's party. The appellants all belong to the Section of the accused No. 1 Muthuswamy. The accused Nos. 2 and 3 viz. Paliappan alias Palaniswamy and Veluswamy are real brothers and close friends of the accused No. 1 Muthuswamy along with the accused No. 5 Gopal. The accused Nos. 4, 6 and 7 viz. Masayan, Gandhi Vel and Mylswamy were the employees of the accused No. 1 Muthuswamy. The deceased Katturaja had shifted his residence to Pollachi.