SUBBIRAMANI Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was accused in S. C. No. 191 of 1986 on the file Court of Session, Salem.

(2.) He was found guilty for offences under Sections 302, 316, 201 and 404, IPC. convicted thereunder and sentenced to imprisonment for life under Section 302, I.P.C., rigorous imprisonment for three years under Section 316, I.P.C., rigorous imprisonment for three years under Section 201, I.P.C. and rigorous imprisonment for two years under Section 404, I.P.C., with a direction that all the sentences are to run concurrently.

(3.) Brief facts are :- (a) The accused is a resident of Kuchipalayam, situate within the limits of Paramathi Velur Police, Station. His wife was one Lakshmi (since deceased). The spouses were blessed with a female child, by name Vaidhegi. At or about the time of occurrence, which event happened on 1/06/1985, his wife the deceased was in advanced stage of pregnancy. The accused suspected the fidelity of his wife. Consequently, there was want of cordial atmosphere prevailing between the spouses in the matrimonial abode. P.Ws. 3 and 4 are respectively the father and mother of the accused. The accused had a brother by name Thangavel and his wife is P.W. 5. P.Ws. 3 and 4 lived in the downstairs portion of the house, while the accused and his wife the deceased, along with their minor daughter, Vaidhegi lived in the upstairs portion. Likewise, his brother Thangavel and his wife, P.W. 5 also lived in another portion of the downstairs. (b) P.W. 1 is the brother of the deceased. He is residing in the adjancent village, going by the name Ranganathampettai. Since his sister the deceased was in the advanced stage of pregnancy, she was to be taken to her parents house on the first of June, 1985. P.W. 2, the sister's son of P.W. 1 a resident of Ranganathampettai, who had been to Kuchipalayam, in connection with the Mariamman festival there, happened to visit the house of the accused on 31/05/1985. On the morning of 1-6-1985, P.W. 2 happened to see a lot of crowd in the house of the accused and he was able to understand the mysterious missing of the deceased, accused and their daughter from the house. He returned to the village and informed the same to P.W. 1. (c) On the night of 31-5-1985, as usual, P.Ws. 3 and 4 took their bed in the downstairs portion, while the accused, the deceased and their daughter took their bed in the upstairs portion. Likewise, P.W. 5 and her husband were also available in their portion of the house. Since daughter of the accused Vaidhegi complained of pain in the ear, the accused was stated to have taken her to the downstairs and entrusted her to the custody of his mother. P.W. 4. At about 2.30 a.m. (on 1-6-1985), the said child cried, obviously unable to bear the pain in the ear. Consequently, P.W. 4 was stated to have gone to the upstairs, obviously to seek help from the accused and the deceased and in such process, she was able to find that both the accused and the deceased were not available. At about the early hours of the morning, the accused returned to the house with a spade on his shoulder wearing wet clothes, showing the signs of taking bath. After return, the accused took his daughter Vaidhegi and left the house. On his way, P.W. 9 met him. The accused is stated to have told him that he was taking his daughter to hospital for treatment to her fever. (d) P.W. 8 is the sister of the accused. She had been residing in the village, going by the name, Manapalli. Eight days after the occurrence, the accused, along with his daughter, visited the house of his sister P.W. 8. daunted by the curiosity of the absence of the deceased, appeared to have enquired about the whereabouts of the deceased. To such a query, the accused was stated to have divulged to her that he, in fact, murdered her. (e) In the meantime, since P.W. 1 was unable to trace his sister the deceased, he went to Paramathivelur police station on 1-6-1995 at 6.30 p.m. and presented a written complaint, Exhibit P1 expressing anguish about the missing of his sister - the deceased and also suspecting harm to her life at the hands of her husband. P.W. 18, then Sub-Inspector of Police in charge of the Police Station registered Exhibit P1 as a case in crime No. 227/85. Exhibit P. 24 is the first information report. At 6.45 p.m. he rushed and reached Kuchipalayam and after inspecting the house of the accused, he drew a rough sketch Exhibit P. 25. He also examined P.Ws. 1 to 5. On 10-6-1985, he examined P.W. 8. (f) On 17-7-1985, the accused was stated to have sent a complaint dated 16-7-1985 addressed to P.W. 17, then Sub-Inspector of Police. Karungalpalayam Police Station, Erode, stating that his wife the deceased left the house on 25-5-1985 to go to her parents' house and he, in turn, went to outside stations for the purpose of doing cooly work and that when he returned to his house on 12-7-1985, his wife was not available, not only in his house, but also in his father-in-law's house. So saying, he made a request to find our the whereabouts of his wife. The said complaint is Exhibit P. 21. The same had been registered as a case in crime No. 500/85. Exhibit P. 22 is the first information report. (g) P.W. 19 was the then Inspector of Police, Paramathivelur Circle limits. On a direction from the superintendent of Police, he took up further investigation in the case in Crime No. 227/85 on 24-7-1985. He verified the earlier investigation done by P.W. 18. He did not record any further statements from the witnesses, already examined by him. On 5-8-1985 at 4-30 a.m., he arrested the accused at the Four Cross Roads junction of Paramathivelur in the presence of P.W. 14. On interrogation, the accused was stated to have voluntarily given a confessional statement under S. 27 of the Evidence Act. Exhibits P. 17 and P. 26 are the admissible portions therein. The accused took out and produced from his person M.O. 2, one jimikki, which was seized under Exhibit P. 18 mahazar. The time was then 6-15 a.m. Exhibits P. 17 and P. 18 were attested by P.W. 14. At 6-45 a.m., he returned to his office, along with the accused. He then altered the case into one under S. 302 read with S. 201, IPC. He prepared express FIR and sent the same to the concerned officials. Exhibit P. 27 is the express FIR sent to the Judicial Magistrate's Court, Paramathivelur. Then the accused was stated to have taken P.Ws. 14 and 19 to the place, where the corpse was buried and then to his house and produced M.O. 10 spade therefrom, which was seized under Exhibit P. 19 mahazar. The time was then 2-00 p.m. Exhibit P. 19 had been attested by P.W. 14. He returned to the Station, along with the accused and put him in the lock-up. He sent Exhibit P. 10 requisition to the Tahsildhar, Namakkal to exhume the body. On 6-8-1985, the accused had been remanded to judicial custody. (h) P.W. 7 was the then Tahsildhar, Namakkal. He went to the office of P.W. 19 at 8-00 a.m. on 6-8-1985. He then went to the survey field No. 207/2 at Kuchipalayam. After inspecting the survey field, he drew an observation mahazar, Exhibit P. 11, which had been attested by P.W. 14. He also drew a rough sketch of the said survey field, Exhibit P 12. The place where a dead body was stated to have been buried was shown in Exhibit P. 12. The said place was dug out by his menials Thangavel, Kuppan and Krishnan. After digging the place for about two feet, four pieces of cloth, M.O. 7 series were found. Digging the place to a further depth of 2 1/2 feet, a corpse was available in a highly putrefied state. There was M.O. 6 jacket covering the body. In the process of excavating the earth from the pit, a single jimikki, M.O. 3 as also traced. M.Os. 3 and 7 series were recovered under Exhibit P. 13 mahazar. The body was lifted and placed on the ground. Between 11-00 a.m. and 1-00 p.m., he held inquest over the corpse. Exhibit P. 14 is the inquest report. He also sent Exhibit P. 2 requisition to P.W. 6, Medical Officer, Government Hospital Paramathivelur through constable P.W. 16 for the purpose of autopsy over the corpse. Exhibit P. 15 is the exhumation proceedings sent to the Judicial II Class Magistrate, (as he then was) Paramathivelur. (i) P.W. 6, on receipt of Exhibit P2 requisition went to the spot and conducted autopsy over the corpse. Exhibit P3 is the post-mortem certificate. Since the body was in a highly putrified state and certain parts of the body were found missing, he was not able to give any opinion as respects the age, sex and cause of death of the corpse over which he had performed autopsy. On requisition from the Judicial II Class Magistrate Paramathivelur, he preserved the skeletal parts of the body of the corpse and facial bones and subsequently the same had been despatched to the chemical examiner for the purpose of finding out the details as to whether it is relatable to human, sex, age and superimposition and cause of death. (j) On 6-8-1985 P.W. 19 examined P.Ws. 14 and 16. On 7-8-85, he despatched the documents and other material objects entrusted to him by P.W. 7 to court. On 9-8-1985, he seized M.O. 1 gold thali chain (without thali) from P.W. 11, pursuant to the information furnished by P.W. 10, under the cover of mahazar Ex. P. 16 attested by P.W. 12 He also examined P.Ws. 10 and 11. On 14-8-1985, he seized from one A. Sathiyaseelan a group photo M.O. 5 under mahazar Ex. P. 28 and in the said group photo the wife of the accused Lakshmi figures and sent the same to court. On 26-8-85, he sent Ex. P. 20 requisition to Judicial II Class Magistrate, Paramathivelur requiring him to send the skeletal parts of the corpse, as well as other bones, for chemical examination, besides superimposition test to be performed by comparing the skull and M.O. P5 photograph, in which Lakshmi the wife of the accused figures. He also gave a requisition to the Judicial II Class Magistrate, Paramathivelur praying for police custody of the accused. The prayer made appeared to have been granted and consequently on 30-8-1985, the accused had been taken to and reached Madras on 31-8-1985 on which date, at 11-30 a.m. the accused took him to the shop of Krishna Jewellers, located at Subhash Chandra Bose Road, Madras and from the said shop, two bangles M.O. 4 series had been recovered, as produced by P.W. 13, a clerk in the said jewellery shop. M.O. 4 series had been seized under Ex. P. 29 attested by P.W. 13. On 1-9-1985, the accused had been remanded to judicial custody. (k) P.W. 15 was then Headclerk attached to Judicial II Class Magistrate, Paramathi Velur. On receipt of Ex. P20 requisition, pursuant to the orders of learned Magistrate, requisitions under the original of Exs. P4 and P5 had been sent to the chemical examiner, marking a copy to P.W. 6 for forwarding the skeletal parts of the body of the corpse, over which he had performed autopsy, facialbones, skull bones and other bones to the chemical examiner. The photograph M.O. 5 had also been sent to the chemical examiner for the purpose of conducting superimposition test. Exs. P6 to P8 are there ports of the Chemical Examiner. (l) The Doctor P.W. 6, based upon Exs. P6 to P8 gave his final opinion Ex. P9 that the corpse, over which he had performed autopsy is of human origin, sex-female, age above 20 years and below 40 years. However, he was unable to give the cause of death with the available data. Likewise, he would opine that the foetus is relatable to a female, but its age could not be given. (m) On 12-9-1985 P.W. examined P.W. 6 and others, On 2-1-1985, he examined P.W. 17. After completion of investigation, he laid final report under S. 173(2), Cr. P.C. on 22-9-1986 before the Judicial II Class Magistrate, Paramathivelur against the accused for alleged offences under Ss. 302, 316, 201 and 404, IPC.