GUDA Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Friends or foes when one is killed, suspicion falls on the others. However, when such suspicion turns into an assumption, the investigation goes awry. This is a classic case where the investigators went awry, on assumptions galore.

(2.) The accused, two in number, and the deceased were migrant labourers, natives of Odisha who were working and living together. Admittedly, there was one another person, also a migrant labourer from the very same State, living along with them. The deceased was found stabbed and hacked, in his living quarters which he shared with three other migrant labourers, all of whom were found missing. The Police went to Odisha and brought back the two accused along with another. Pertinently, it is not clear from the evidence led, who the other person was, said to have been living with the deceased and the accused.

(3.) The prosecution paraded 18 witnesses before Court, marked 23 documents and produced 13 material objects. There were no contradictions, witnesses or documents marked on the part of the defence. The Trial Court convicted the accused under S.302 r/w S.34 IPC and sentenced each of the accused to suffer imprisonment for life and pay Rs.1.00 lakh each.