NATARAJAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS criminal appeal has been preferred under Section 374(2) Cr.P.C. against the judgment of the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court II, Chennai made in S.C.No.154 of 2006, dated 13.07.2007. Challenge is made to the judgment of the Additional District and Sessions Division, Fast Track Court-II, Chennai made in S.C.No.154 of 2006, whereby the sole accused/appellant stood charged under Sections 302 and 201 IPC, tried, found guilty as per the charges and awarded life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/-, in default to undergo 2 years R.I. under Section 302 IPC and 3 years R.I. and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/-, in default to undergo 6 months R.I. under Section 201 IPC and the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

(2.) THE short facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal can be stated as follows: a) P.W.1 is the Manager employed in Capital Guest House, No,2, Owliya Sahib Street, 3rd Lane, Anna Salai, Chennai within the jurisdiction of the respondent police station. P.Ws.6,10 and 18 are the staff members of the said guest house. P.W.11 is the owner of the said guest house. b) On 30.12.2005 at 9.30 p.m., the accused and the deceased approached P.W.1 when he was in duty and asked him to let out a room. THE accused also paid Rs.300/- as advance. At that time, P.Ws.6,10 and 18 were sitting on shofa near the reception. THE accused wrote his address at page 1550 of the ledger, which was marked as Ex.P.3. THE accused was allotted room No,204 and he was staying with the deceased. c) On 31.12.2005 at about 6.00 a.m., P.W.1 was coming from the upstairs. At that time, the accused took tea. P.W.18 also supplied tiffin. On the same day evening, both the accused and the deceased went out and at about 7.30 p.m., they came back to the room. Both of them were staying over there on the very night. On 01.01.2006, the accused asked P.W.10 to supply tiffin. Accordingly, it was supplied. At about 3.15 p.m., the accused went out telling P.W.10 that sister was sleeping in the room. At 6.00 p.m., P.W.10 took a tea to room No,204 and he found that the room was kept open and the T.V. was switched on and apart from that, the tube light was also burning. But, he could not find the deceased and he thought that the deceased was in the bathroom. After 5 minutes, P.W.10 took another tea, but the room was in the same position and even at that time, he could not find her. After raising sound, he went to the bathroom and found the deceased lying dead in the bathroom. Immediately, it was informed to P.W.11. d) P.W.11 asked P.W.1 to go to the police station and to lodge a complaint. P.W.1 went to the respondent police station and gave the complaint to P.W.13, which was marked as Ex.P.1. P.W.13 also registered a case in Crime No,4 of 2006 under Section 174 Cr.P.C. Ex.P.28, the F.I.R. was despatched to the Court. e) P.W.24, the Inspector of Police, on receipt of the copy of the F.I.R., took up the investigation, proceeded to the spot and made an inspection in the presence of the witnesses. He prepared Ex.P.22, the observation mahazar and Ex.P.23, the rough sketch. He also recovered the material objects from the place of occurrence under a cover of mahazar. He conducted inquest on the dead body of the deceased in the presence of the witnesses and panchayatdars and prepared Ex.P.29, the inquest report. f) THEreafter, the Finer Print Expert was called for and he also took the finger prints from the materials available there. THE finger prints of the accused were also taken after his arrest. After verification, the Finger print expert filed the reports, namely Ex.P.5 and P.6. THEreafter, the photographs were also taken. THE dead body was sent to the Government Hospital, Royapettah for the purpose of autopsy. g) P.W.23, the Doctor attached to the Government Hospital, Royapettah, on receipt of the requisition, has conducted autopsy on the dead body of the deceased and has issued Ex.P.26, the post-mortem certificate, wherein he has opined that the deceased would appear to have died of Asphyxia due to traumatic compression of the neck with obstruction of the airways. h) Pending investigation, the accused was arrested on 10.01.2006 by the Investigator and the accused came forward to give confessional statement, which was recorded in the presence of the witnesses, the admissible part of the same was marked as Ex.P.30. Following the same, M.O.2, gold chain was recovered from P.W.7, Pawn broker. P.W.9 was also examined. According to him, he is the friend of the accused and M.O.2 was handed over to him and it was he who pledged the same with P.W.7, from whom M.O.2 was recovered. Further, M.Os.8 and 23, gold ear ring and one pair of mattal respectively were also recovered from the accused. Apart from that, the handwriting expert was called for. THE admitted signature of the accused was taken and it was compared with the ledger that was recovered by the Investigating Officer during investigation and they were found tallying. After the opinion of the Doctor, the case was altered to Section 302 IPC and the alteration report was sent to the court. On completion of the investigation, the Investigating Officer has filed the final report.

(3.) THE court heard the learned Additional Public Prosecutor on the above contentions and has paid its anxious consideration on the submissions made.