Lifers freed as witness turns hostile

CHENNAI: Holding that the sole eye witness of the prosecution is unreliable and turned hostile, the Madras High Court (MHC) set aside the life imprisonment imposed against seven accused in a murder charge.

There is no doubt that the case can rest on the sole witness, the brother of the deceased, however considering the fact that there are several infirmities that we have pointed out in the evidence of the witness, make him an unreliable witness, wrote a division bench comprising Justice MS Ramesh and Justice Sunder Mohan.

Since the sole witness turned hostile, the bench acquitted all the accused from the murder charge by setting aside the life imprisonment.

It is the prosecution’s case that the deceased had an illicit relationship with the wives of A1 Shanmugam and A4 Karthik. Hence both the accused hatched a conspiracy with other accused A2, A3, and A5 to A11, planning to murder the deceased, said the prosecution.On February 11, 2008, when the deceased travelled with his brother, the sole witness, on a two-wheeler, some of the accused restrained the deceased, near Rohini Theatre, Thirumangalam, and had a fight over the alleged illicit relationship, said the prosecution. Later in the evening, all the accused abducted the deceased and murdered him by inflicting several cuts and injuries with weapons including knives, said the prosecution. After the perusal of the material evidence, a sessions court convicted all the accused except A10 acquitted and A11 abated as dead. A1 was imposed with one year of rigorous imprisonment and life imprisonment for A2 to A9.

Since A1 and A3 died, the other accused moved the MHC seeking to set aside the conviction by the lower court.