MURTHY @ POONIYAMURTHY Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Criminal Appeals have been filed by the appellants (A1 to A4), aggrieved by the Judgment passed by the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge (Presiding Officer, Special Court for E.C and NDPS Act Cases), Pudukkottai, dated 12.12.2017, made in S.C.No.2 of 2016, wherein the appellants were convicted for an offence under Section 120 (b) r/w 302 and 302 of IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.2000/- each, and in default, to undergo three months Simple Imprisonment.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that A1 and A2 are brothers and A3 is the relative of A1 and A2. A4 is the friend of A1 and A2. The deceased persons are the sons of one E.Durairaj and they are brothers.

(3.) The prosecution is alleging civil dispute, illegal sand mining (which is said to have been informed to the revenue authorities by the deceased persons) and dispute regarding the temple festival, to be the reason for the previous enmity between the parties and the motive behind the crime. On 04.10.2013, at about 9.30 p.m., A4 is said to have made a telephone call to P.W.3 as if an illegal quarrying is done by A1 and P.W.3, in turn, informed the same to the deceased persons and they went to verify the same in their two wheeler. They did not find any quarrying activities and all of a sudden A1 to A4 had come in a two wheeler and had attacked the deceased persons with Aruval resulting in the death of both the deceased persons on the spot. It is further alleged that the eyewitness P.W.1 was also threatened by the accused persons and thereafter, they had run away from the scene of occurrence.