MURTHY Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Referred trial No. 6 of 1980 comes before us by way of reference made by the learned Sessions Judge of Chengalpattu for confirmation of the sentence of death imposed by him on the accused (Murthy aged about 29) in Sessions Case No. 135/85 on his file. The said accused Murthy has preferred the appeal C.A. 408/86 canvassing the correctness of the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge in the said S.C. 135/85, convicting him of an offence under section 449 I.P.C., under charge No. 1, under section 302, I.P.C. (two count) under charges Nos. 2 and 3 and under section 307, I.P.C. under charge No. 4 and sentencing to undergo imprisonment for life under each of the charges Nos. 1 and 4 and to death under charges 2 and 3, with a direction that the sentence of imprisonment for life shall merge with the sentence of death.

(2.) The crux of the Indictment of the prosecution is that on 21-7-1985, at about 00.45 hours at Kalpakkam Department of Atomic Energy Township, Sadras East, at D. No. 88, the accused committed house trespass by entering into the abovesaid building and committed the murders of one Jayasambal aged about 35 and one Vijay Anand, a boy aged about 12 years, by indiscriminately cutting and inflicting multiple injuries un their persons with a knife (M.O. 2) after bolting the doors from inside, and that in the course of the same transaction, the accused also attempted to cause the death of P.W. 2 Kavitha Priyadarshini, a girl aged about 13, by indiscriminately cutting her with the same knife. To substantiate the above charges, the prosecution examined P. Ws. 1 to 17, filed Exs. P1 to P26 and marked M.Os. 1 to 32.

(3.) The brief facts of the case, as unfolded by the oral and documentary evidence, are as follows: Deceased Jayasambal (hereinafter referred to as D. 1) was the first wife of P.W. 1, a medical practitioner in the Government Hospital at Sadras. Deceased Vijay Anand (hereinafter referred to as D-2, and the injured P.W. 2 are the son and daughter of P.W. 1 and D. 1. At the time of the occurrence they were all residing in the scene house. P.W. 3 is the younger sister of D. 1 and she was working as a Health Visitor at the T.A.E. Hospital at Kalpakkam. As she had joined the duty only on 4-7-1985, she was residing in the same house with her son aged about 3, since her husband was employed at Theni in Madurai District. P.W. 4 was working as a Typist in the State Bank of India at Kalpakkam Township Branch, and was residing adjacent to the scene house. P.W. 16, the Inspector of Police, was residing two houses away from the scene house. Ex. P 17 is the rough sketch of the scene house along with all details, and Ex. P18 is a rough sketch showing the scene house and the surroundings.