R GANESAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE above Criminal Appeals have been preferred against the judgment dated 31. 10. 2001 rendered in S. C. No. 86 of 2001 by the Court of II Additional Sessions Judge, Coimbatore, thereby convicting the appellants/accused for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 302 read with 34 and 392 I. P. C. and sentencing them to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 r/w 34 I. P. C. and to undergo rigourous imprisonment for five years and each of them to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- in default to undergo rigourous imprisonment for a further period of 6 months for the offence under Section 392 I. P. C. further directing the sentences to run concurrently.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution is that A1 to A3 are friends; that the deceased Srinivasan is the goldsmith and he originally belonged to Andipatti but he was staying at Coimbatore at the scene of occurrence in the second floor of the building where the occurrence took place; that on 29. 8. 2000 at about 4. 30 a. m. A1 to A3 assembled at the scene of occurrence with the common intention to commit murder of Srinivasan and to commit theft of gold jewels and they knocked at the door and when Srinivasan opened the door, A2 closed the mouth of Srinivasan with his hands, A3 assaulted him with 'thottilkattai' on the head of Srinivasan, and further caught hold of the hands of Srinivasan and pushed him into the bathroom. In the course of the same transaction A1 tied the legs of Srinivasan with a piece of bed-sheet, A3 tied his hands from the backside with another piece of bed-sheet and thereafter A1 strangulated the the said Srinivasan with a piece of bed-sheet with intention to kill him, as a result of which the victim Srinivasan died of asphyxia due to compression of the neck; that immediately after the said act the accused committed theft of 191. 8 grams of gold jewels belonging to the deceased Srinivasan and hence, the charge for the commission of offence punishable under Sections 302 r/w 34 I. P. C and 392 I. P. C.

(3.) THE Court of II Additional Sessions Judge, Coimbatore, having conducted a trial in which the prosecution has brought forth oral and documentary evidence and the material objects, of which for the oral evidence 15 witnesses have been examined as P. Ws. 1 to 15 and for documentary evidence 28 documents have been marked as Exs. P. 1 to P28, besides marking 25 Material Objects as M. Os. 1 to 25 in proof of the case of the prosecution to the standards required under law that is 'proof beyond reasonable doubts' and having appreciated the evidence placed on record the Court of II Additional Sessions Judge, Coimbatore, had ultimately arrived at the conclusion held the appellants/accused No. 1 to 3 guilty of the commission of offences under Sections 302 r/w 34 and U/s 392 I. P. C. and had sentenced them as aforementioned.