ANANDA KUMAR Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The judgment dtd. 31/10/2018 of the Additional Session's Court-II, Pathanamthitta in S.C.No.634/2008, convicting and sentencing the accused therein under Ss. 302 and 201 I.P.C., is under challenge in this Criminal Appeal. As per the aforesaid judgment the appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment and fine Rs.1,00,000.00 with a default clause of rigorous imprisonment for six months. No separate punishment was awarded for the offence under Sec. 201 I.P.C.

(2.) The prosecution case is that the accused committed murder of two elderly persons by name Aleykutty and Prabhakaran at 10.00 a.m. and 10.45 a.m. respectively on 3/10/2007 at a remote place by the side of a graveyard, 200 meters away from the Municipal building, Pathanamthitta. It is stated that the accused had prior enmity with Aleykutty in connection with her allegation about the theft of sheep belonging to her. As a result of the above enmity, the accused is said to have strangulated Aleykutty by tightening the towel worn by her across her neck and thereafter dragged her to a nearby water-logged area and trampled her into the dirty water there. It is the further allegation that when Prabhakaran came there, calling Aleykutty by her name, the accused chased Prabhakaran with a tile piece in his hand, and hit the victim on his neck and loin portion with that tile piece, with the intention of causing death, leading to the collapse and death of that person. Thereafter, the accused allegedly dragged the dead body of Prabhakaran and disposed of it in the nearby bushes.

(3.) The Pathanamthitta police, upon getting information about the detection of the putrefied dead body of a male, at about 1.30 p.m. on 6/10/2007, registered Ext.P1 FIR under Sec. 174 Cr.P.C. and initiated proceedings. Later on, another FIR was registered by the Pathanamthitta police as Ext.P2 upon detection of the putrefied dead body of a woman at about 10.00 a.m. on 8/10/2007 at a waterlogged area near to the Municipal market. Those dead bodies were identified to be that of the destitutes Aleykutty and Prabhakaran, living in the Municipal land near to the graveyard. Soon the investigating officer filed reports before the Sub Divisional Magistrate as well as the Judicial Magistrate about the incorporation of the offence under Sec. 302 I.P.C. in connection with the death of the aforesaid persons on the basis of the facts revealed during investigation. The accused was arrested on 15/10/2007 and remanded to judicial custody. The investigating officer is said to have recovered the slippers worn by the accused at the time of commission of the crime, and the tile piece used for hitting Prabhakaran, on the basis of the disclosure statement made by the accused during custodial interrogation. The lungi and shirt worn by the accused at the time of commission of crime are also said to have been recovered by the investigating officer on the basis of the information received from the confession statement of the accused. After the completion of the investigation, the Circle Inspector of Police, Pathanamthitta laid the final report before the Jurisdictional Magistrate.