KARTHIK ALIAS KARTHIKEYAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) KARTHIK @ KARTHIKeyan, the appellant herein was convicted for the offences under Section 302 IPC and under Section 3 (2 ) (v)SC/st (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Challenging the same, this appeal has been filed.

(2.) THE facts which led to the conviction are as follows : (a) THE prosecution party belong to Adi-dravida community. THE accused is of Vanniya community. THEy are residing at Puliyangudi Village . THE prosecution witnesses being Adi-dravidas are living in a separate colony. THE accused karthik belonging to Vanniya community was having affair with P. W. 15 prabavathi, a Hindu Adi-dravida residing in the colony. (b) On 25-05-2000 at about 9 p. m. , the accused entered into the colony in order to meet P. W. 15 in her house. On noticing his movements, P. W. 15s uncles son Murali questioned him as to why he came there. Ultimately, a quarrel ensued between both of them. P. W. 14 Kuppammal @ saraswathi, aunt of P. W. 15 and P. W. 13 Uma @ Kalaiselvi, daughter of P. W. 14 and P. W. 16 usha witnessed this quarrel. (c) Since the colony people felt that Karthik came to the colony and trespassed into the house of P. W. 15, they suspected that the accused has come to rape P. W. 15. THErefore, they decided to report the matter to "maadhar Sangam". P. W. 17 Vasantha advised them to bring this to the notice of the Panchayat President. (d) Accordingly, on 26-05-2000 at about 7 a. m. , the village people went and reported the matter to P. W. 18 Soundarapandian @ rajasoundarapandian, the Panchayat President. At about 8 a. m. , P. W. 18 and p. W. 19 Headmaster convened the Panchayat. THE Village people requested the panchayat President to arrange for the marriage of the accused with P. W. 15. THE panchayatars P. Ws. 18 and 19 called for the accused. However, he was not available. So, P. W. 22 Ganesan and P. W. 23 Kannan, who belong to the same village were sent for searching the accused to bring him before the Panchayat. (e) Next day at about 9 p. m. , P. Ws. 22 and 23 came to poompuhar. THEy reported to P. Ws. 24 and 25 that the accused misbehaved with p. W. 15 and therefore, they have come to take the accused to produce before the panchayat. THE next day both of them were able to find the accused. When these people asked the accused to come for Panchayat, the accused told them that he committed murder of three persons of this Village and they should not divulge it to any other persons. (f) In the meantime, in the village at about 7 a. m. , there was a hue and cry from persons on seeing that Gandhi, Mathiyalagan and rajesh @ Vellaiyan were found dead with cut injuries on their neck beneath the banyan tree. P. W. 1 Senthil, brother of the deceased Gandhi went to the Police station and gave Ex-P2 complaint to P. W. 44 Uthirapathi, Sub-Inspector of police, suspecting that 28 named persons in the Vanniya Community might have committed the murder. A case was registered under Section 302 IPC. (g) THEn, P. W. 45, the then Deputy Superintendent of police took up investigation. He came to the spot, observed all the formalities and prepared observation mahazar. THEn, he arranged to take photographs of the bodies and recovered bloodstained earth. He, thereafter, sent the dead bodies for post-mortem. (h) On 28-05-2000, P. Ws. 30,31,32 the Doctors conducted post-mortem on the three bodies and issued post-mortem certificates, Exs-P4,p6 and P8. (i) P. W. 46 Swaminathan, successor of the then D. S. P. , took up further investigation. On 29-05-2000, on suspicion, he arrested P. Ws. 18 and 19, the Panchayat President and the Headmaster of the School. (j) On 30-05-2000, on the orders of the higher-ups, p. W. 47 Padmanabhan took up further investigation. He continued the investigation and examined the other witnesses. THEn, he examined P. Ws. 22 and 23 on 09-06-2000. THEreafter, he came to know that the accused alone is the culprit. On 07-07-2000, he arrested the accused and on his confession, M. O. 1 aruval, M. O. 2 Pawn Brokers Receipt and M. O. 3 notebook were recovered. (k) THEreafter, P. W. 47 examined the persons from whom the accused purchased the Aruval. THE materials were sent for chemical examination. After concluding the investigation, P. W. 47 filed the charge sheet against the accused. (l) During the course of trial, on the side of the prosecution, P. Ws. 1 to 47 were examined, Exs-P1 to P36 were filed and M. Os. 1 to 28 were marked. (m) When the accused was questioned with reference to the materials placed by the prosecution, he denied his complicity in the crime. However, no evidence was adduced on the side of the defence. (n) THE Trial Court after analysing the entire materials placed on record found the accused guilty of the offences under Section 302 IPC and under Section 3 (2) (v) SC/st (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

(3.) IN this case, three important circumstances were put-forth by the prosecution as against the accused. (1) Motive (2) Extra-judicial Confession (3) Recovery of the weapons used in the commission of offence.