CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has reversed a 2017 judgment of a sessions court in Chennai which acquitted 16 people accused in a murder case.
A division bench of justices P Velmurugan and M Jothiraman found the acquitted persons guilty of committing the offence after re-appreciation of the evidence. It overturned the acquittal order and sentenced two of the accused, V Stephanraj and R Chanduru, to life imprisonment apart from slapping a fine of Rs 1,000 each.
The bench ordered the police to produce the remaining seven accused who were found guilty of committing the offence since they did not appear before the court on the day of declaration of the quantum of sentence.
The matter pertains to the murder of Ezhumalai of Thiruvanmiyur on June 14, 2010 by a gang due to previous enmity. The police registered cases against 14 people, of which five have died. The seventh Additional Sessions Court, in 2017, acquitted them saying the charges were not proved beyond doubt.
The state filed an appeal against this order acquittal.
The division bench remarked that any defect or lapses in investigation will not affect the case of the prosecution. Moreover, in this case, there are direct eye-witnesses as they were all present at the scene of occurrence and their evidence was cogent, consistent and reliable and so, there is no reason to discard their evidence.
Further, it is a well-settled proposition that when several persons formed an unlawful assembly and were involved in criminal acts, it is very difficult to point out the specific over act of each and every accused, the bench said.
Additional public prosecutor A Damodharan appeared for the prosecution.