The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Madras High Court acquits six in triple murder case

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Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Madras High Court acquits six in triple murder case

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday set aside the conviction and sentence imposed on six persons by a trial court for murdering a gangster and killing his children, aged eight and two, in Tuticorin district in 1996.

Allowing criminal appeals filed before the Madurai Bench, Justices Prabha Sridevan and S. Nagamuthu said they were constrained to acquit the accused owing to several inconsistencies in the prosecution case.

“Improper probe”

They expressed their displeasure over “improper” investigation.

“We are not only shocked but also pained to see that there was an inordinate delay of about 29 hours in forwarding the first information report (FIR) to the Magistrate concerned, and the investigating officer has not come forward with any explanation whatsoever,” the Judges observed. They held that the complaint and the FIR produced before the trial court were concocted documents.

‘Barbaric, inhumane’

Speaking for the Bench, Mr. Justice Nagamuthu said: “The crime has been committed in the most barbaric and inhumane manner…The assailants did not possess basic humaneness and need to be punished with the maximum quantum of punishment…But our hands are tied and we are not able to find out the real culprits so as to impose proper punishment on them.”

According to the prosecution, a gang trespassed into the house of Selvanayagam, an illicit arrack seller at Kalapaipatti, on the night of May 18, 1996 and beheaded him. It hurled country bombs into the house, where his three children were sleeping. Their mother could save only one child and the other two succumbed to the blast.

The assailants also hacked the children in the head.

Two prime accused died even before the charges were framed and Tuticorin Fast Track Court-I on December 14, 2005 acquitted nine others and convicted the rest.

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