NITHEESH Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole accused in S.C.No.660 of 2019 before the Sessions Court, Thrissur is the appellant before us aggrieved by the judgment dtd. 18/11/2020 of the Sessions Judge, Thrissur, convicting him under Ss. 440, 449, 324 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code [IPC] for the murder of a 21 year old girl who had refused to marry him.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that the deceased Neethu was staying with her grandmother and uncle at her maternal home at Chiyyaram, Thrissur District. On 4/4/2019 at about 06.45 a.m, the accused trespassed into the bathroom attached to the bedroom of Neethu and murdered her by stabbing her with a knife on her neck, chest and abdomen. After inflicting the fatal stab injuries, he went on to pour petrol on her and set her ablaze. The prosecution states that the accused had made all preparations for a planned murder by purchasing a knife, petrol etc. on the days immediately prior to the date of commission of the crime and the refusal on the part of Neethu to marry the accused is stated to be the motive behind the crime.

(3.) Ext.P1 FI Statement was given by PW1 Sahadeva Menon, the uncle of the deceased at 09.28 a.m. on 4/4/2019, and on the basis of the said statement, Ext.P45 FIR was registered. The appellant/accused was formally arrested at 03.30 p.m. on 4/4/2019 as evidenced by Ext.P46 arrest memo. On culmination of the investigation that followed, a final report was filed before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court - II, Thrissur in C.P.No.12 of 2019. The learned Magistrate, after furnishing copies of the relevant prosecution records to the appellant/accused, committed the case to the Sessions Court in terms of Sec. 209 of the Code of Criminal Procedure [Cr.P.C.]. Before the Sessions Court, a further investigation was conducted at the instance of PW1 Sahadeva Menon, who had invoked the provisions of Sec. 173(8) of the Cr.P.C. and a further report was filed by the Investigating Officer. In the said report, Sec. 324 IPC was deleted and Sec. 440 IPC was added. The copies of the further report and other relevant prosecution records were also furnished to the appellant/accused.