RAJAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant challenges the Judgment, conviction and sentence passed against him in S.C. No. No. 942/2009 on the file of the Additional Sessions Judge -I, Mavelikkara. As per judgment impugned, the accused stands convicted and he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 15,000/ - under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for one year.

(2.) THE prosecution case in brief is as follows : - -

(3.) ON completion of the prosecution evidence, the incriminating materials arising out of the prosecution case was put to the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He also filed a statement of his version of the incident under 313(5) of the Code. In the statement filed, the accused denied his involvement in the offence and stated that himself, deceased Vigil, Carlos, David, Gopi, PW3 -Krishnan, Sree and PW4 - Suresh were the workers of PW1 - Vijaya Kumar. According to him, on the date of occurrence, except for Vigil all others went for work. PW 3 and Vigil had quarreled over this fact. At noon PW3 went back to the room at Leela Offset Printers from the work site and returned back after an hour and on his return he said he was not feeling well and sat idle till 4.00 PM. At about 5.45 p.m., PW3 Krishnan and PW4 Suresh went back to the room. The accused and Sree returned in a bus and when they reached their place of residence, they could see PW3 - Krishnan and PW4 -Suresh standing outside the building. They did not permit the accused to enter the premises and locked the gate. Later PW 3 and 4 revealed that the room at Leela Printers was splattered with blood all over. On the next day they went back to the Leela Offset Printers at about 8'O' clock in the morning and found PW1 and others along with police personnel. Only then did he realize that Vigil had been murdered. He went and saw the dead body, but Krishnan did not accompany them. According to him, the police had assaulted him and had framed him in this case. On the side of the defense, Exts. D1 to D8 case diary contradictions were marked. No oral evidence was adduced.