GANESAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is the sole accused in S.C. No. 162 of 2008 on the file of the learned Sessions Judge, Nagapattinam District. He stood charged for offence under Section 302 of IPC. By judgment dated 19.01.2012, the trial court convicted him under Section 302 of IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 3,000/- in default to undergo simple imprisonment for three years. Challenging the said conviction and sentence, the sole accused is now before this court with this criminal appeal. The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows:- The deceased in this case was one Mrs. Amsavalli. Her husband is one Mr. Arumugha Gounder. Mr. Arumuga Gounder had two brothers by name Mr. Kunju Gounder and Mr. Srinivasa Gounder. There was a joint family property in Marangayanallur Village belonging to these three brothers. In a Village Panchayat, a partition was effected, in which, they were allotted 20 kuzhis each. The accused is the son of Mr. Srinivasa Gounder. Before the partition, the accused was residing in a small hut put up on a portion of the said land. In the partition, the said portion was allotted to Mr. Arumugha Gounder. Therefore, the deceased Mrs. Amsavalli, wife of Armugha Gounder, was demanding the accused to vacate and handover the vacant possession to her. One Mr. Sundari @ Sundaram is her son. But, the accused was evasive. This resulted in frequent quarrels between them. This is stated to be the motive for the occurrence.

(2.) On 27.08.2007 at about 06.00 p.m., the deceased was at her house. In respect of the above dispute, there arose quarrel between the accused and the deceased. In the course of the said quarrel, it is alleged that accused took out an aruval and cut the deceased indiscriminately. This was witnessed by the son of the deceased and P.W. 1 and P.W. 2. After cutting the deceased, the accused fled away from the scene of occurrence with the weapon.

(3.) Immediately, P.W. 1 and Mr. Sundaram took the deceased to the Government Hospital at Vedaranyam and admitted her as inpatient. After treatment, the Doctor, who was on duty at the said Government Hospital, referred her to Thanjavur Government Medical College Hospital. Accordingly, P.W. 1 and Mr. Sundaram took the deceased to Thanjavur Government Medical College Hospital and admitted her at 07.30 a.m. When the deceased was in the Government Hospital at Vedaranyam, on receiving intimation from the hospital authorities, P.W. 13, the then Sub Inspector of Police, Vedaranyam Police Station, rushed to the hospital. Since the deceased was in coma, he recorded the statement of Mr. Sundari @ Sundaram and on returning to the police station, he registered a case in Crime No. 424 of 2007 under Sections 307 and 506(H) of IPC. Ex. P. 1 is the complaint and Ex. P. 19 is the FIR. He forwarded both the complaint and the FIR to the court and handed over the case diary to the Inspector of Police for investigation.