SHIVARAJ; SAKTHIVEL; PERIYASAMY; RAMAKRISHNAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants are the accused 2 to 5 in S.C.No.119 of 2012 on the file of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Dharmapuri. The 1st accused was one Velmurugan and the 6th accused was one Palani. The 1st accused Velmurugan died during the trial of the case and thus, the charges framed against him stood abated. So far as the 6th accused is concerned, the trial court, by judgment dated 08.10.2015, acquitted him from all the charges. All these 6 accused stood charged for offence under Section 396 of IPC, in the alternative, under Section 302 (2 counts) of IPC. The trial court, convicted these appellants/the accused 2 to 5 under Section 396 read with 34 of IPC (2 counts) and sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. Challenging the said conviction and sentence, the appellants/accused 2 to 5 are before this Court with this Criminal Appeal.

(2.) The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows:

(3.) Based on the above materials, the Trial Court framed charges as detailed in the first paragraph of the Judgment. The accused denied the same. In order to prove the case, on the side of the prosecution, as many as 21 witnesses were examined and 38 documents and 29 material objects were also marked.