AALAGUPANDI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both the above Criminal Appeals have arisen from out of one and the same judgment of the Court of Principal Sessions Judge,Tuticorin, dated 19/10/2000 rendered in S.C.No. 101 of 1997, thereby convicting the Appellants herein, who were respectively Accused Nos. 3, 1 and 2 before the Trial Court and sentencing them each to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a further term of two years for the offence proved under Section 304(i) r/w. Section 34 I.P.C.

(2.) Tracing the history of the Appeals coming to be preferred by the Appellants, it comes to be known that they were all charged before the Court of Sessions, the trial Court, for an offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. on allegations that the deceased was one of the five brothers and the eldest of them all, is the first accused; that in spite of there being a clear partition among all the five, the first accused pledging the shares of others also, obtained a tractor loan from the Bank but did not remit the loan amount as per the agreement and there had been a notice sent by the bank cautioning that if the amount had not been paid, they would bring the properties for auction; that when the matter was discussed by the deceased Arumugha Pandian with another brother Selvapandian, he opined that selling the share of the first accused and the tractor, the loan had to be repaid and others' properties could be saved and the first accused having become aggrieved of this stand taken by the deceased brother having sworn that he would put an end to the life of the deceased and in pursuance of the said previous enmity, on 29/2/1996 at about 4.00 a.m. all the accused joining hands with each other and in furtherance of the common intention to commit murder of the deceased, each armed with one Vettu Aruval, when the deceased was sleeping in the electric motor room near the well, they assaulted the said Arumugha Pandian with the said weapons, causing grievous injuries on his neck, face, right shoulder, left shoulder, left chest, left hand and all other parts of the body, resulting in the instantaneous death of the said Arumugha Pandian on the spot and hence, the Accused Nos. 1 to 3 have been charged for the offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C.

(3.) The prosecution, in its endeavor to prove the case put up by them with such standard of proof beyond reasonable doubts as it is required in law, would examine 16 witnesses for oral evidence as P.W.s. 1 to 16, besides marking 23 documents for documentary evidence as Exs. P.1 to P.23 and would also mark 20 Material Objects as M.Os. 1 to 20 . In appreciation of these evidence placed on record the trial Court would ultimately arrive at the conclusion that no offence under Section 302 I.P.C. r/w. 34 I.P.C, has been proved but would find an offence under Section 304 (i) r/w. Section 34 I.P.C. having come to be proved, would sentence each of them to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- each, in default to undergo a further term of Rigorous Imprisonment for two years.