Suspicion not proof, says Madras High Court; acquits Puducherry man convicted for murdering dad, nephew
With his mother’s help, Sivakumar stabbed his father and nephew, cut their bodies into pieces and concealed them in gunny bags.
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court acquitted a convict serving a life sentence for murdering his father and nephew over a property dispute, as the prosecution had not established any motive or reasonable doubt.
On April 14, 2017, Selvaraj and his son Sivakumar quarrelled over property. With his mother’s help, Sivakumar stabbed his father and his nephew, who tried to save his grandfather.
The mother and son cut their bodies into several pieces and concealed them in gunny bags. To hide the murders, they threw away the body parts in a dump yard near Pattanur village in Villupuram, said the prosecution.
After noticing that her father and son were missing, Selvaraj’s daughter filed a complaint against Sivakumar and her mother. Based on the complaint, D Nagar police in Puducherry registered a case and recovered the body parts from the dump yard.
However, the complainant turned hostile and refuted the property dispute between Sivakumar and his father. And, the prosecution had not established any motive for the crime.
So, a division bench of Justices MS Ramesh and Sunder Mohan wrote: “It’s well settled that suspicion, howsoever high, cannot take the place of proof,” and acquitted Sivakumar.
The prosecution’s case was that Sivakumar and his mother conspired to murder Selvaraj as he constantly quarrelled with his wife to transfer the property which stood in her name. But when the mother moved the property in her son’s name instead of her husband, it became a point of contention in the family, which ended in murder, according to the prosecution.
The prosecution also submitted that Sivakumar had confessed to the crime during interrogation. After investigation and scientific reports were obtained, the prosecution filed the final report before the judicial magistrate in Puducherry.
However, the trial court held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charge levelled against the second accused – Sivakumar’s mother – and acquitted her. It found Sivakumar guilty and imposed a life conviction.
Aggrieved by the conviction, Sivakumar moved an appeal to set aside the sentence.