PALANISWAMY VAIYAPURI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two cases arise out of the same judgment and therefore can be disposed of by a common judgment. The case for the prosecution may be briefly outlined as follows : In the village of Minnakukkal in Salem district in Madras State there lived an old poor widow called Perumai. She had five daughters and in the present case we are concerned with the third daughter by name Palaniammal alias Panniakkal alias Pappal, whose sudden death under mysterious circumstances has led to the instant prosecution. Palaniammal was married to one Kuppanna gounder of Minnakkal about seven years back. About three years prior to the incident, she had separated from her husband and had come to stay with her mother Perumai. It appears that some arrangement was arrived at between Palaniammal and her husband Kuppanna in which the latter had agreed to pay her maintenance. Kuppanna had married a second wife, presumably after giving divorce to Palaniammal. It further appears that Kuppanna had stopped paying the amount of maintenance to Palaniammal as per the agreement with the result that Palaniammal was driven to file a suit in the Court of the District Munsiff at Salem for maintenance. One Arumugam of Namakkal, who was the President of the Village Panchayat Board of Kurgupuram a place which is ten miles from Minakkal, was helping Palaniammal in prosecuting this litigation. Arumugum is a man of status. Perumai had about four acres of land in Minakkal. Two years prior to the incident she had sole all her lands to Namba gounder, one of her sons-in-laws, for a sum of Rupees 5,000. Perumai put on ornaments on the person of Palaniammal at the time of her marriage with Kuppanna and Palaniammal continued to retain those ornaments after she had come to stay in the house of he other. After the sale of the lands neither Palaniammal nor Perumai had any source of maintenance. They, therefore, used to go out to work as labourers in the field of others. Palaniammal occasionally worked in the field of the accused on hire. The accused. M. V. Palaniswamy, is a man of status having lands at Minakkal. His income from the lands was to the tune of Rupees 5,000 a year. He was a member of the Panchayat Board of Minnakal. He used to take contracts or supervise the work construction of roads Palanisammal occasionally used to work on this road construction project carried under the supervision of the accused. the accused was also a social worker.

(2.) 13th August 1964 was the day for the holding of Mariamman festival at Attiyampatti, a place which is three miles away from Minnakkal. On that day, Perumai along with her daughter, Palaniammal and one of her grand-sons, Palaniappan, the son of Namba gounder, started going to Attiyampatti to attend the festival. On their way they passed through the fields of the village Sappayapuram. One Subbaraya Gounder, who is Perumai's husband's sister's son, was working in his field. Hemet palaniammal while she was going to wards Attiyampatti. He had a talk with her. She told him that she was going to Namakkal to meet Arumugam since she had received a letter from him in regard to the suit. Subbaraya Gounder noticed that the deceased Palaniammal was wearing certain ornaments on her person. Perumai has deposed that in the course of the festival she had occasion to meet the accused. the movements of the deceased Palaniammal at movements of the deceased Palaniammal at Attiyampatti are not known except the fact that at about 5 p. m. she had gone to Vaidyalingam a tailor at Attiyampatti, with a view to get a blouse stitched for her. She sat in the shop, got the blouse stitched and then left the place. There is no evidence regarding the movements of the deceased till she actually boarded the train at Madras on the night of the 14th August 1964.

(3.) IT is the case for the prosecution that on the 14th August 1964 the accused went to Vellore and met Natesan, who is a cloth merchant at that place. Natesan is a friend of the accused and the accused had lent a sum of Rs. 5,000 to him. Natesan was repaying the loan by making small payments from time to time. It is not disputed that some balance remained to be paid to the accused. There is, however, dispute as to the exact amount of the balance, Natesan contending that the balance was to the extent of about Rs. 1,000, whereas the accused has assented in his statement that the balance was to the tune of Rs. 4,000. On 14th August 1964 the accused obtained a sum of Rs. 230 from Natesan. Natesan made an entry in regard to this item in his ledger (Exhibit 36) and obtained the signature of the accused. it is suggested for the prosecution that originally the entry bore the date 14th August 1964. It is further suggested that the accused took a bus at about 12. 35 noon from Vellore and went to Madras. He reached that place at about 4 p. m. it is also suggested that the accused reserved two seats in the bus in the name of M. A. Kandaswamy. The bus reached Madras at about 4 p. m. At about 5 p. m. the prosecution case runs, the accused reserved two seats in the first class compartment in the names of M. A. Kandaswamy and Laxmi Kandaswamy in 10 UP Madras - Bombay Mail for that purpose, he submitted an application (Exhibit 6 ). It is the prosecution case that against Item No. 4 of Exhibit 6, the accused put the letters 'm. A. Kandaswamy'. Against item No. 2 viz. , Number of sleeper berths required (in words ). The following contents appear; "two - Preferably coupe. " as against the Item No. 3 under the title "name and full postal address of each of the passenger for whom reservation is required". The following contents appears: " (i) M. A. Kandaswamy, (ii) Mrs. Laxmi Kandaswamy. " the address is mentioned as ; "subramanya Koil Street, vellore. N. A. " as against the item No. 5 which is entitled "relationship of the applicant to passengers and why he preferred the application on their behalf". The following words have been "self and family". The 10 UP Madras-Bombay Mail left Madras Station at 9-10 p. m. on 14th August 1964. It is the case for the prosecution that a number of witness such as car attendants, train conductor guards and Ticket collectors, had occasion to see the passengers who were travelling under the names Mr. And Mrs. M. A. Kandaswamy during their journey from Madras to Dadar. The couple was occupying cabin 'a' in bogie No. 2985. At about 5-30 a. m. on 16th August 1964 when hammals entered the bogie at Dadar Railway Station, they noticed that a woman was lying below the berth in an unconscious condition. The male passenger was not in the bogie at that time. It is suggested for the prosecution that the accused crossed the platform by the over bridge towards the Western Railway station and boarded a taxi. V. P. Kullkarni, train conductor guard, informed head constable, Janardhan Bhalerao about the fact that a female passenger was lying in an unconscious condition in cabin 'a' in bogie No. 2985. He submitted a report (Exhibit 94) to the Railway Police Sub-Inspector, Dadar. With the aid of some hammals including hammal Ramu Thorat, Hospital. She was admitted in the K. E. M. Hospital at 6-20 a. m. Bogie No. 2985 was detached from the train and kept in the railway yard in the siding. The woman who was later on identified as Palaniammal was treated in the hospital by Dr. Miss Acharya. Dr. Miss Acharya noted down the symptoms on a sheet of paper known as Surgical Medical History Sheet (Exhibit 119 ). In the column entitled "house Officer's Notes" we find the following entries: "an unknown patient found in a state of drowsiness in a train and brought by the police. History of frothing at the mouth. On examination : Patient drowsy muttering unintelligibly and at times rowdy. Pupils pin-point. Not reacting to light. Pulse? respiration-20 p. m. B. P.- 68 mm breath does not smell of anything. Respiratory system - Ravels all over secretions on the mouth and in the throat. Cardio-Vascular system (C. V. S) -Pulse? Heart sound not heard. Alimentary system (AS) and Central Nervous System - Detailed examination could not be done". Reference is than made to the treatment viz. , that Coramine injections were given. Atropine also injected and intravenous glucose drip stated the notes further states that Ryle's tube was passed and brownish aspirate taken out which was later sent to the Chemical Analyser. At 7 a. m. intravenous drip was continued as also cordine and coramine injections. Oxygen was also continued. But the patient expired at 7 a. m.