STATE OF KERALA Vs. PRIYAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Five persons were arrayed as accused in Crime No.110/2005 of Ettumanoor Police Station, for the offences punishable under Ss.302, 201 and 417 read with S.34 IPC. Initially, A1 and A2 alone were available for trial and the other three accused, including the appellants herein, were absconding. Later on, the appellants surrendered before Court and they stood trial. The appellants were found guilty of the offences alleged against them and were sentenced to the punishment mentioned earlier. Death Sentence Reference is filed as per S.366 Cr.P.C.

(2.) The case of the Prosecution, in brief, is as follows :

(3.) Praveen, who had gone for his job, as usual on 15.02.2005 also, did not return home. Initially, the members of his family thought that he would have gone to attend the festival in the temple at Ettumanoor. The next day also, he did not return. That aroused the suspicion of the members of his family and they informed PW1, the father of Praveen, who was working at Thiruvananthapuram, about the same. Though PW1 tried to locate his son, he was unsuccessful. He, therefore, laid a complaint before the Police on 18.02.2005. In the meanwhile, it so happened that the various parts of the body of Praveen, which were disposed of by the accused, surfaced in the backwaters, at various places. The body parts were identified as that of Praveen, by PW1 when he was taken to various places and parts of the body were shown to him. Ultimately, the various crimes registered in various Police Stations, on sighting the legs, hands and torso at different places, were consolidated and Crime No.110/2005 of Ettumanoor Police Station was treated as the leading case.