SELVAM AND ORS Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants in these appeals, who were arrayed as accused Nos. 1 to 11 along with one other accused who had been arrayed as A-12 (since acquitted) in S.C. No. 697 of 1999, on the file of the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court I, Tirunelveli, have come forward with these appeals against the order of conviction and sentence passed against them. The appellants in Crl.A. No. 621 of 2004 are the accused Nos. 1 to 4; the appellants in Crl.A. No. 618 of 2004 are the accused Nos. 9 to 11 and the appellants in Crl.A. No. 495 of 2004 are accused Nos. 5 to 8.

(2.) The charges levelled against the appellants along with the acquitted accused A-12 are that all the appellant/accused, alleged to have armed with deadly weapons, formed themselves into an unlawful assembly and caused the death of three persons by name Pandarasamy, Murugan and Karuppasamy, hereinafter referred to as D1, D2 and D3 respectively, who are the sons of one Pandarm, the complainant in this case, caused the death of the above said three persons on 5.11.1999 at bout 6-30 A.M. at the junction of the bus stop of the village Sundarapandiyapuram, by indiscriminately cutting them with deadly weapons in wreaking revenge due to the previous enmity connected with the murder of one Murugan, the brother of A1 and son of Pandaram in respect which a case had been registered by the police that was pending before the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Tirunelveli.

(3.) Among the 12 accused, appellants/accused Nos. 1 to 11 herein, except A-12 were convicted and sentenced. A-1 to A-11 were found guilty under charge No. 1 for the offence committed under Section 148 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years. A-1 to A-7 and A-9 to A-11 were found guilty under charge No. 3 under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each in default to undergo 3 years Rigorous Imprisonment on three counts. Accused No. 8 was found guilty under charge No. 4 for committing the offence under Section 302 read with 149 IPC (3 counts) and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- under each count, in default to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment (3 counts). So far as the charge Nos. 2,5,6,7,8 and 9 are concerned, all the accused are acquitted of the charges by the trial court for the reasons assigned in pras 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the judgment of the trial court. As against the order of conviction and sentence passed by the trial Court, the present appeals have been preferred by the convicted accused.