KANNUPAIYAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants herein have assailed the judgment of the learned I Additional Sessions Judge, Salem, finding both of them guilty under S.302 read with S.34 of I.P.C. and awarding life imprisonment and also finding the first appellant guilty under S.324 of I.P.C. and awarding two years R.I.

(2.) The appellants 1 and 2 stood charged under S.302 read with S.34 of I.P.C., while the first appellant alone stood charged under S.324 of I.P.C., alleging that in pursuance of the common intention, they committed the murder of Arthanari @ Athi Gounder by attacking him with Suri knife and crowbar, and in that transaction A-1 caused simple injuries to P.W.3 Natarajan @ Natesan.

(3.) The case of the prosecution can be briefly stated as follows: P.W.1 was a resident of Molagoundampalayam. P.W.3 is the son of P.W.1. A-2 is the paternal uncle of A-1. The deceased Arthanari @ Athi Gounder was a pangali of both the above witnesses and the accused. All of them were residing in Kaliyanur Village in Molagoundampalayam. The deceased was owning a land with an extent of 1 acres. His lands were situated on both sides of the lands of A-1 and A-2. Athi Gounder was irrigating a part of his lands situate on the one side of the lands of the accused, from his well situate in the other part. The pipeline put up by Athi Gounder was to cross the field of both the accused, and thus, there was dispute between them in drawing the water by Athi Gounder to his fields. They used to often break the pipelines. A few days prior to the occurrence, the accused made a hole in the hose pipeline, and Athi Gounder was complaining to others about the same. On 3.7.1992, Athi Gounder was to draw water to his fields from the well situate on the other field by using plastic pipes. Consequently, some of the crops in the field of the accused were damaged. On 4.7.1992 at about 6.00 P.M., when Athi Gounder was taking two of his cattle to his house, A-1 armed with suri knife and A-2 armed with crowbar waylaid him and uttered "We won't leave you alive and close you and your family". On seeing the accused armed with deadly weapons, Athi Gounder dropped the strings of the cattle and ran towards Karuppannasam8i Koil. Both the accused chased and stabbed him. P.W.1 Kuzhandhaivelu Gounder, P.W.2 Vijaya, P.W.3 Natarajan @ Natesan, P.W.4 Velusamy and P.W.5 Velappa Gounder all were witnessing the same. Immediately A-1 stabbed Athi Gounder on his right shoulder and pushed him down. When Athi Gounder resisted, A-2 stabbed him with crowbar on his right armpit and left shoulder. Witnessing this, P.W.3 intervened and questioned the accused as to their acts. Asking why he should come in support of him, A-1 stabbed P.W.3 on his right side of the chest, right hand and left hand. P.W.1 on seeing his son being attacked, went nearby to intervene, but he was threatened by the accused with dire consequences. Athi Gounder who received the above injuries died instantaneously. Both the accused fled away from the scene of occurrence. A-2 left the crowbar at the scene of occurrence, while A-1 took the suri knife with him. Immediately, the witnesses engaged a hire taxi of P.W.6 Ravi and took P.W.3 to the Government Hospital, Erode. P.W.11 Dr.Manokaran admitted P.W.3 at about 8.25 P.M. and treated him. The Doctor found the following injuries. 1. Punctured wound " x " over front of right side of chest exposing torn muscles. 2. A lacerated wound 2" x " over the right forearm 1" below right elbow. 3. Punctured wound 1" x 1" over left shoulder exposed torn muscle. P.W.11 Doctor has opined that all those injuries were simple, and Ex.P7 is the accident register recorded by him.