- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) Appellants call in question legality of the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Madras High Court upholding the conviction of the appellants for the offence punishable under Sections 148 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC'), while setting aside conviction of four co-accused persons who had been convicted by the trial Court.
(3.) Prosecution version in a nutshell is as follows: There was a difference between the six accused persons who belong to Hindu People Party on one hand and Suresh (hereinafter referred to as the 'deceased') and witness Ananthan (PW-1) who belong to Hindu Munnani Party. On account of this difference on 14.8.2001 Ananthan (PW-1) and some others had beaten up Senthil Kumar (A-3) and on 25.8.2001 said Ananthan (PW-1) and the deceased had restrained accused persons 1 to 5 from participating in the ritual competition of climbing a tree on Vinayargar Chaturti Function. On 30.8.2001, around 4.45 p.m. with an intention of killing Ananthan (PW-1) and the deceased, all the six accused persons unlawfully assembled at a particular place armed with dangerous weapons and assaulted the deceased. Accused Nos.1 and 2 i.e. present appellants called out Ananthan and chased him but he managed to escape. But that did not deter the appellants who attacked the deceased at around 5.00 p.m. in a garden and he lost his life because of the assaults.;