The short facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal can bestated as follows:a) P.W.1 Rajagopal is a resident of Maniyampatti and his father isa cousin of the deceased Mani @ Perumal.All the accused belonged to the sameplace.The first accused was doing the job of sellingillicit liquor.The deceased, who initially worked in a tea shop, wasworking under A1 during the relevant period.The deceased was notmarried.The remaining accused were also attackingthe deceased.Then, they tied the deceased in Vadanarayana tree andbeat him with sticks and the deceased fell unconscious.On seeing thedeceased unconscious, the accused removed the deceased from the treeand poured some water on his face.They took him to the resident ofthe first accused and found him dead.Later the deceased body wascovered with cloth and all the accused escaped from the place.P.W.1 has given a complaint underEx.P.1 before P.W.4 Village Administrative Officer at 9.00 p.m. and the samewas sent to the Police Station through Headman of thevillage.P.W.9 Sebasthian Head Constable attached to the PulivalamPolice Station received the said complaint on 13.1.1995 at about 11.00p.m.On the strength of which, he registered a case in Crime No.3 of 1995 under Section 302 IPC.Express F.I.R. under Ex.P.11 wasdespatched to the concerned court.The copy of the same was forwarded to theSuperior officers.On 14.1.1995 at 6.30 a.m. he madeinspection on the site of occurrence and prepared observation mahazar in thepresence of witnesses, which was marked as Ex.P.3 and rough sketch Ex.He examined thewitnesses and recorded their statements.The dead body was sent toGovernment Hospital, Thuraiyur for post-mortem.On 14.1.1995 onreceipt of requisition, P.W.8 Dr.Kannabai conducted autopsy and has issuedEx.P.10 post-mortem certificate.He opined that the deceased wouldappear to have died of shock and haemorrhage due to injury to vitalorgan liver and right kidney ruptures about 20 to 22 hours prior toautopsy.On 15.1.1995, the Investigating Officer went to Maniyampatti,examined the other witnesses and recorded their statements.Oninformation, he proceeded to Kannanur and arrested accused No.1 Raju andChinnu.A1 gave confessional statement in the presence of the witnesses andthe admissible portion of the confessional statement was markedas Ex.M.Os.1 to 3 were recovered pursuant to the confessionalstatement.The accused were produced before the Court and remanded tojudicial custody.He examined both Pws.5 and 6 Head Constables andrecorded their statements.The Judicial Magistrate, ThuraiyurThe Judicial Magistrate, Thuraiyur through the Chief Judicial Magistrate, TrichyThe I Additional Sessions Judge, TrichyThe Principal Sessions Judge, TrichyThe Superintendent, Central Prison, TrichyThe Public Prosecutor, High Court, ChennaiThe Dy.The appellants/accused Nos.1 to 3, who stood charged and tried forthe offences under Section 302 IPC for A1 and Section 302 r/w 109 & 34IPC for A2 and A3 and under Section 342 IPC against all the accused, and A1 toA3 were found guilty under Sections 342 and 304(2) andsentenced to undergo RI for one year each under Section 342 IPC andsentenced to undergo RI for four years each under Section 304(2) IPC,have brought forth this appeal.On 18.1.1995, A2 surrendered before thelearned Judicial Magistrate, Musiri.On 23.1.1995, the InvestigatingOfficer obtained post-mortem certificate and examined P.W.8 Doctor.Healso examined the photographer and obtained the statement.Oncompletion of the investigation, he laid a charge sheet against the accusedunder Section 342 and 302 IPC.In order to prove the charges levelled against the accused, theprosecution examined 10 witnesses and marked 14 exhibits and 3 M.Os.The accused were questioned under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. as to theincriminating circumstances found in the evidence of the prosecutionwitnesses, which they flatly denied as false.No defence witnesses wereexamined.The trial court, on consideration of the rival submissions made andscrutiny of the available materials, found all the accusedguilty under Section 342 and 304(2) IPC and sentenced them to undergoimprisonment as referred to above.Aggrieved accused have broughtforth this appeal.Arguing for the appellant, the learned Counsel Ms.J.JulietPushpa made the following submissions for consideration by this Court.P.W.2 hasturned hostile.P.W.1 was a close relative of the deceasedand he was interested, and hence it was uncorroborated and selfinconsistent testimony.The evidence of P.W.1 should not have been relied onby the trial court for finding the accused guilty.The prosecutionrelied on the evidence of P.Ws.1 to 3 to the effect that the deceased wasbeaten with sticks.But, in the post-mortem certificate it could be seen thatno external injury was found corresponding to the saidversion of the prosecution witnesses.Hence, the prosecutionwitnesses could not have seen the occurrence at all.The medical evidence has not in any way corroboratedthe ocular evidence.Under the stated circumstances, the lower courtshould have rejected the case of the prosecution and acquitted theaccused.Opposing the contentions put forth by the appellants' side, thelearned Government Advocate would submit that the prosecution hasclearly brought home the guilt of the accused under Sections 342 and 304(2)IPC as found by the trial court.It is true that P.W.2 hasturned hostile, but the prosecution relied on the evidence of P.Ws.1 and 3,who have given a cogent evidence as to the fact that it was A1 to A3who tied the deceased in Vadanarayana tree and even before tyingthe deceased, they beat him and after tying also, they beat him.It is truethat there was no corresponding external injury found, but ithas in no way affected the case of the prosecution, because, P.W.8Doctor has opined that the death was caused not due to injury by beating thedeceased, but because of tying of rope tightly, the vital organs kidney andliver were not functioning and rupture was also found.Under the stated circumstances, it cannot be said that the ocularevidence was not corroborated by the medical evidence, and thus, theprosecution has clearly proved its case.Hence, the judgment of the trialcourt has got to be affirmed.After careful analysis of the evidence available andconsideration of the rival submissions made, this Court is unable to agreewiththe contentions of the appellants' side.The gist of the prosecution case wasthat on the date of occurrence, on entertaining suspicionthat the deceased took away the amount of A1, he questioned thedeceased and not satisfied with the answer, A1 beat the deceased and A2 and A3have also joined with him.All the accused tied the deceased with a kadambarope in Vadanarayana tree situated nearby the house of A1 and beat him.Thedeceased fell unconscious.Hence, the accuseduntied the rope and poured water on his face.They took him to the houseof A1 and found him dead.They fled away from the scene of occurrence.It istrue that P.W.2 has turned hostile.P.W.1 who gave acomplaint was a close relative of the deceased.Itis pertinent to point out that the complaint was given by P.W.1 wherehe has given a full narration of the occurrence as he narrated theoccurrence before the trial court.Both P.Ws.1 and 3 have categorically spoken to the fact that all theaccused have tied the deceased in a tree.P.W.8 Post-mortem Doctor has givenpost-mortem certificate andhas also deposed thatwhen he was tied tightly there was all possibility of non functioningof vital organs, namely, kidney and liver and which caused his death.He hasalso noticed rope mark in the waist of the deceased.Theappellants' side is unable to show any circumstance or reason why theevidence of P.Ws.1 and 3 should be disbelieved or rejected.In other respect, the judgment of the trial court isconfirmed.With the above modification, this criminal appeal is dismissed.Inspector General of Police, Chennai-4O.Srinath, Govt. Advocate (Criminal Side) High Court, ChennaiThe Inspector of Police, Thathaiyangarpettai, Pulivalam Police Station M. CHOCKALINGAM, J vvk C.A.NO.322 OF 1996 31.07.2003

Sections cited: Section 304 in The Indian Penal Code, Section 342 in The Indian Penal Code, Section 302 in The Indian Penal Code