P. SASIKUMAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant before us has challenged the order dtd. 12/1/2017 of the High Court of Madras which has upheld the conviction of the appellant under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC') as well as under Sec. (s) 449, 404 and 201 r/w 302 IPC. He has been, inter alia, sentenced for life imprisonment under Sec. 302 IPC.

(2.) It was a brutal murder of a 14-year-old girl committed inside her house on the night of 13/11/2014, allegedly by two accused, one of them being the present appellant before this Court. There is no direct evidence of the crime although there is both ocular as well as forensic evidence placed by the prosecution to prove the murder of the 14-year-old girl, at the hands of the present appellant and another accused, who is accused no.1 and also the main accused. The present accused is accused no.2.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is largely based on circumstantial evidence. FIR No.408/2014 was lodged on 13/11/2014 at police station Alagapuram by PW-1 Durairaj, who is the father of the deceased. The complainant states that he is working as a Manager at JSP Granite Company at Salem, Tamil Nadu and he has two daughters. The elder daughter had studied engineering from Mahendra Engineering College and is now working in L&T Company, Chennai. His younger daughter was studying in the 8th standard in a local school in Salem. His wife is working as an accountant in a private company. On 13/11/2014 his wife had gone to Chennai to meet their elder daughter as she was not well. The younger daughter (deceased) was alone in the house. That day he had called his younger daughter about 2-3 times, in order to remind her to receive her tiffin but she did not answer his call. He had then made up his mind to return to his house early. When he was climbing the stairs of his house at about 07:15 p.m., after parking his scooter, he saw a person aged about 25 years, walking down the stairs. This man had a helmet in his hand, which he immediately wore on seeing the complainant. He found the door of his house open and his daughter was bleeding profusely from her neck. Meanwhile, neighbors had gathered on hearing his cries and they informed him that two persons had come to his house who had brutally killed his daughter. The deceased was still alive was rushed to the hospital where she was declared dead.