SOMAN ALIAS SOMASUNDARAM Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two appeals arise from the judgment of the learned ii Additional Sessions Judge, Coimbatore in S. C. No. 299 of 1999. Crl. A. No. 736/2000 has been broughtforth by A-4 and crl. A. No. 825 of 2000 has been broughtforth by A1 to A3. The appellants herein, along with two others ranked as A5 and A6, stood charged as follows: A1, A3 and A4 - 302 IPC A2 - 302 and 307 IPC A5 and A6 - 302 r/w 109 IPC A1, A3 and A4 were convicted for the offence under section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment respectively, while a2 was convicted under sections 302 and 307 IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment for three years respectively and the sentences were directed to run concurrently. A5 and A6 were acquitted.

(2.) THE short facts necessary for the disposal of these appeals are as follows:- a) A1 to A6 were residents of Coimbatore Shivananda colony. A5 was the organiser of Hindu Munnani, Rathnapuri branch at Coimbatore . THE deceased samsukhani and Premnazir PW1 were the members of Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra kazhagam and the deceased Samsukhani was also the Secretary of Tamilnadu Muslim munnetra Kazhagam, Rathnapuri branch. THE assasination of one Palanibaba, a muslim leader, at Pollachi is the background of this case. b) P. W. 5 is the father of P. W. 1. P. W. 5 was running a hotel. P. W. 2 was employed in Sendhil Cafe situated in Shastri Road. P. W. 3 and p. W. 4 were autorickshaw drivers who were also used to park their autorickshaws at the road junction. THE deceased Samsukhani was having a petty shop in the marudhakutty road and Shastri Road junjction. On 2. 2. 1997 at 5 am P. W. 5 along with his son P. W. 1 went for prayers to the mosque and while returning P. W. 1 informed P. W. 5 that he would go and have a tea and come back. THEn he proceeded to Sendhil Cafe. By that time the deceased was in front of his shop sweeping. P. W. 1 invited him to have a tea with him, but the deceased informed him that in view of'nombu'he could not have tea and asked P. W. 1 to have tea. P. W. 1 went to the tea stall, gave an order for a tea and was standing in front of the shop. At that time he heard distress cries of the deceased and therefore, rushed to the scene, where the deceased was having a petty shop, where he found a1 to A4, armed with deadly weappons, indiscriminately cutting the deceased. c) On seeing P. W. 1, A2 told them that he has also to be cut off. Immediately A2 chased P. W. 1, P. W. 1 ran to the shop and A2 cut P. W. 1 on his cheek. When P. W. 2 shouted not to cut him, A2 ran away. A1 to A4 flew away from the place of occurrence along with the weapons since crowd gathered. P. W. 1 rushed to P. W. 5 and informed about the occurrence. He immediately took P. W. 1 to kongunadu hospital, a private hospital of P. W. 13. Since it was a police case p. W. 13 doctor informed them to go to a Government Hospital. THEn P. W. 13 sent an intimation to B-3 Kattur police station, Coimbatore, which is marked as Ex. P20. d) P. W. 23 Inspector of Police, on receipt of the intimation proceeded to Kongunadu Hospital and recorded the statement of P. W. 1. THE said statement is marked as Ex. P1. On the basis of Ex. P1 he registered a case in Crime No. 110/97 for offences under sections 307 and 302 IPC by preparing express reports. THE express reports were sent to the higher officials and to the Court. Ex. P32 is the copy of the printed FIR which was sent to the Court along with the complaint Ex. P1. P. W. 5 took P. W. 1 to the government Hospital, Coimbatore at 8 am. and P. W. 1 was admitted in the hospital. P. W. 18 doctor, who gave treatment to P. W. 1, issued Ex. P22 the accident register. e) P. W. 23 proceeded with the investigation. He went to the scene of occurrence, made an observation in the presence of two witnesses and prepared Ex. P2 observation mahazar and Ex. P33 rough sketch. He took photographs through P. W. 10 and marked M. O. 9 series (photos) and M. O. 10 series (negatives ). THE investigating officer conducted inquest on the dead body in the presence of witnesses and panchayatdars and prepared Ex. P34 inquest report. He recovered M. O. 4 blood stained earth, M. O. 5 sample earth, three pairs of chappals M. Os. 6 to 8 under a cover of mahazar Ex. P3. f) THEn he sent the dead body for autopsy along with a requisition Ex. P15. P. W. 20, the doctor attached to the Government hospital, conducted autopsy on the dead body and issued Ex. P24 postmortem certificate. THE doctor gave his opinion that the deceased would appear to have died of shock and haemorrhage due to multiple injuries sustained by him and the death would have occurred 6 to 9 hours prior to autopsy. g) On 7. 2. 1997 the investigating officer arrested A1 to a3. A1 to A3 were questioned and they gave statements, the admissible portion of which are marked as Ex. P35, Ex. P36 and Ex. P37 respectively. Pursuant to the confession statement A1 produced M. O. 2 knife, M. O. 15 blood stained pant, M. O. 16 blood stained shirt and M. O. 17 plastic bag, which were recovered under Ex. P38 mahazar. A2 produced M. O. 3 aruval and it was recovered under Ex. P39 mahazar. A3 produced M. O. 18 blood stained pant, M. O. 19 blood stained shirt and M. O. 20 knife which were recovered under Ex. P40 mahazar. h) On coming to know that A1 sustained injuries, he was taken for treatment and he was given treatment by P. W. 19 doctor attached to the government Hospital, Coimbatore on 8. 2. 1997. Ex. P23 is the accident register of a1. On 12. 2. 1997 A4, A5 and A6 were arrested. When questioned, A4 gave a confession statement, the admissible portion of which is marked as Ex. P41. Pursuant to the said statement he produced M. O. 21 motor cycle which was recovered under Ex. P42 mahazar and M. O. 22 knife which was recovered under ex. P43 mahazar. As A4 also sustained injuries he was taken to the Government hospital where P. W. 14 doctor gave him treatment and issued Ex. P21 accident register. i) Ex. P17 requisition was forwarded to the Chief Judicial magistrate, Coimbatore for conducting identification parade of the accused. Accordingly P. W. 12 Chief Judicial Magistrate conducted parade on 20. 2. 1997 in the Central Prison, Coimbatore. P. W. 1 identified A1 to A4 while P. W. 2 identified A1 to A3. Identification parade proceedings are marked as Ex. P19. All the material objects recovered from the place of occurrence from the dead body and from the accused, on production pursuant to their confession statements, were sent for chemical analysis which resulted in Ex. P27 chemical report and ex. P28 serologist report. j) On completion of the investigation the investigating officer filed the final report before the committal court against the accused for the offences mentioned above. THE case was committed to Court of Session and necessary charges were framed against the accused/appellants 1 to 6.

(3.) IT is not in controversy that the deceased Samsukhani died out of homicidal violence. Following the inquest of the investigating officer the deceased was subjected to postmortem by P. W. 20 doctor, who gave the postmortem certificate Ex. P24 where he has opined that the deceased died out of shock and haemorrhage and due to the multiple injuries caused and this fact was never questioned by the accused before the lower court nor before this Court. Hence it can be safely concluded that the deceased died out of homicidal violence.