- (1.) The appellant is original accused no. 2. He was tried along with six other accused in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court No.1) Chidambaram in Sessions Case No. 175 of 2004 inter alia for offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, "the IPC"). TheSessions Court by judgment and order dated 25 th July, 2005 acquitted original accused nos. 5 to 7 and convicted accused Nos. 1 to 4 under Sections 449, 341 and 302 read with 34 of the IPC. The appellant along with others carried appeals to the Madras High Court. By the impugned judgment and order dated 16.3.2007, the Madras High Court dismissed the said appeals. Hence this appeal by special leave.
(2.) Shortly stated the case of the prosecution is that pursuant to the criminal conspiracy hatched over a period of one week prior to 9.6.2002, at 10.00 a.m. on 9.6.2002, Sivakumar, Jayaseelan, Loghu and Lakshmanan (A1 to A4 respectively) trespassed into the office of the Chairman of the panchayat i.e. Senthil Kumar (PW-5) and they wrongfully restrained Ramesh (the deceased) and indiscriminately and fatally attacked him. In the course of the same transaction, A1 is stated to have caused hurt to Ravi (PW-2) with a dangerous weapon. In support of its case, the prosecution examined as many as 27 witnesses. The accused denied the case, however, they did not lead any evidence.
(3.) Thiru Vinoba (PW-1) is the elder brother of the deceased. Tmt. Puratchimani (PW-6) is the younger sister of the deceased. Ravi, Ashok and Sundar (PW-2, PW-3 & PW- 4 respectively) who were examined as eye witnesses, turned hostile. There is no dispute about the fact that this case has political overtones. The trial court as well as the High Court believed the evidence of PW-1 to the extent it implicates the appellant, A1, A3 and A4. The question is whether evidence of PW-1 can be relied upon to confirm the sentence awarded to the appellant.;