Death penalty of two in quadruple murder case set aside by HC The Madurai bench of the Madras high court set aside an order of the additional district and sessions court in Tirunelveli, which had sentenced two people to death, in a case related to the murder of four people. The bench also directed the state government to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased family, for which the amount shall be deposited at the trial court. On April 19, 2007 one A Jayakumar, 47, his wife Shanmugathayee, 33 and his two minor children - Indira, 10 and Bhuvaneshwari, 8 - were brutally murdered by two people, namely M Kattu Raja, 27 and his relative S Vettumperumal (a) Krishnan, at the formers farmhouse situated in Kailasaperi village in Kalakadu taluk in Tirunelveli district. According to the prosecution, the motive behind the gruesome murders was that Jayakumar had allegedly developed an illicit relationship with Rajas wife. After the incident, theKalakkadu policehad registered a case under Section 302 (murder) read with 34 (4 counts), 449 (house tress-pass to commit offence punishable with death) and Section 3(2) (v) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. On December 26, 2012, the trial court found the two guilty after examining 30 witnesses and passed orders sentencing them to death along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each. Following it, the matter was referred to the high court bench. When the matter came up before the high court on January 31, the bench ordered re-investigation after it found that the earlier probe was far from satisfactory and entrusted the further investigation to one P Mahendran, additional superintendent of police (crimes) Tirunelveli. Delivering the judgment on an appeal filed by the two convicts, the division bench comprising justices M Jaichandren and S Nagamuthu expressed regret over the outcome in the case. On behalf of the appellants, senior counsels I Subramanian and V Kathirvelu argued the case. The diabolic manner in which the four precious lives have been simply snatched away by the horrible act of the stone-hearted assailants is painful. But, we regret to say that the officers who investigated the case had failed in the legal obligation to make thorough and scientific investigation, justice S Nagamuthu who wrote the judgment, said. The judge further observed that there were serious lapses in the investigation which ultimately resulted in the failure of justice. Neither the public prosecutor who conducted the case nor the judge who presided over the trial court bestowed adequate attention to the case to see that an important object - aruval - which was allegedly recovered from the accused was proved as required under the law through appropriate witnesses. Besides, the bicycle and motorcycle which were allegedly used by the accused were not produced at the trial court by the police. Source:LegalEra
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:03:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015