Mani vs State Of Tamil Nadu

3. The prosecution case was that the two accused persons had murdered one deceased Sivakumar who had strained relationship with Accused No. 2 Moyyasamy. The relationship was strained on account of the cattle belonging to the father of the deceased namely P.W.1 Arunachalam having grazed in the field belonging to accused Moyyasamy. In fact, both P.W.1 Arunachalam and accused Moyyasamy are the real brothers while deceased Sivakumar and P.W.2 Amulnathan were the sons of Arunachalam. On account of the cattle trespass into the field of A.2 Moyyasamy, there was a quarrel. This trespass incident, seems to have taken place on 19.9.1996. Since there was an altercation between accused Moyyasamy and his brother in which accused Moyyasamy had stabbed on the neck of Arunachalam, he (Arunachalam) had reported the matter to the police.

5. During investigation which was done on 25.11.1996 the house of appellant which was locked was broken open by the police and the house was searched. Some blood stained materials like cement flooring, human hair and blood stained brass lock were seized by the investigating officer. It was found in the post-mortem examination that the deceased had suffered six injuries on various parts of the body including the neck and that he had died due to the injuries to the vital organs and also due to the hemorrhage. The seized material was sent for the chemical analysis.

6. The investigating officer came to know that accused appellant had surrendered before the Court. He, therefore, filed an application for the police custody on 28.11.1996 and ultimately obtained the same on 06.12.1996. The prosecution further contended that on the same day on the basis of the discovery statement made by the accused appellant, blood stained clothes of the accused namely M.Os 15-17 and blood stained Koduval namely M.O. 18 were recovered from the place pointed out by the accused. The second accused (Moyyasamy) was arrested on 08.12.1996 and his blood stained clothes were also recovered. On the basis of the investigation, charge sheet came to be filed.

7. As many as 15 witnesses were examined. The accused had denied their guilt. The Trial Court concluded that the prosecution established its case beyond reasonable doubt and convicted both the accused of the offences as aforesaid.

8. During the appeal, the High Court came to the conclusion that there was no evidence worth the name against accused no. 2 Moyyasamy. The High Court further held that the motive attributed by the prosecution to Moyyasamy was not established. Thus, the High Court held on the basis of the fact that the prosecution had not placed any material to show that subsequent to 19.9.1996, any incident took place so as to provide motive for murder of the deceased. The High Court also held that there was no evidence led in to show that appellant Mani and accused no. 2 Moyyasamy were the close associates and that accused Moyyasamy had set up the present appellant to commit the murder of the deceased. Thus, the High Court held that there was nothing to link the accused Moyyasamy with the crime particularly because there could be no motive suggested to it. The High Court also disbelieved the discovery made by accused Moyyasamy of the blood stained clothes on the ground that the discovery was belated. For these reasons, accused Moyyasamy was acquitted. However, the High Court dismissed the appeal in so far as the present appellant is concerned.

15. The first circumstance held by the High Court against the appellant is that the Koduval (M.O.18) was found with sticking hair and it is proved that the scalp hair of the deceased was found similar to the hair sticking to the Koduval and that M.Os 15, 16 and 17 were the clothes found with strained blood. In our opinion, this circumstance by itself is of no consequence unless those material objects are connected with appellant.

25. We are also not impressed by the evidence of P.W.1 Arunachalam who had though found the corpse at night or atleast had realized that something unusual had happened, did not bother to go till next day at 10 0clock for reporting the matter. We cannot ignore the evidence of P.W.5 Chinamal in whose field the body was found. She had specifically claimed that this fact was known to P.W. 1 Arunachalam. Having seen all the evidence and having considered both the judgments very carefully, we are of the clear opinion that this cannot be a case where the prosecution has proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubts. We would therefore accept the plea of the accused raised by the defence counsel that this is clearly a case for benefit of doubt. We would therefore chose to grant the benefit of doubt to the accused holding that the prosecution has not been able to prove its case beyond the reasonable doubt. We therefore, allow the appeal. Accordingly the appeal is allowed. Impugned Judgments and conviction are set aside.

The accused be set to liberty forthwith unless required in any other case.