- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of the Division Bench of the Madras High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the appellant. The said appeal was filed by the appellant and two others. The accused-appellants are Kittusamy, Channappan, and Palanisamy (for the sake of convenience the accused persons are described as "A1, A2 and A3"). Each of them was convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the "IPC").
(3.) The prosecution version in a nutshell is as follows: Deceased Ayyasamy is the son-in-law of Kittusamy (Al). Chinnappan (A2) and Palanisamy (A3) are the sons of Al. Deceased Ayyasamy married Valliammal, daughter of Al, about 15 years back. From the wedlock, two children were born. After sometime, Chinnakutty, second daughter of Al was kept as concubine by the deceased. After four months, she left the house of the deceased and eloped with somebody else. Four years prior to the date of occurrence, Valliammal, daughter of Al, unable to bear the torture at the hands of the deceased, left the house of the deceased and joined her parents with her children. On 3.11.1996 at about 10.00 P.M., the deceased Ayyasamy came to the house of the accused, where the wife of the deceased along with her children were residing, and asked his wife to come with him to lead the matrimonial life. She refused to accompany him. The accused also told the deceased that they would not allow Valliammal to join him anymore. Then, the deceased abused the accused in filthy language and went back to his house. On 4.11.1996 at about 6.00 A.M., Al to A3 came to the house of the deceased, where he was residing alone, with weapons. Al, A2 and A3 were armed with stick, iron rod and aruval respectively. Noticing all the accused coming with the weapons, the deceased got afraid and began to run from his house towards Northern side. But all the accused chased him to a considerable distance and ultimately, surrounded and attacked the deceased with the weapons causing 17 injuries. Three persons (PWs 1, 2 and 3) witnessed the incident. Then, P.W.1 went to Avanashipalayam police station and gave Ex.P1 complaint to Sub Inspector of Police (PW-10). A case under Section 302 read with Section 34 1PC was registered against the accused. Inspector of Police (PW-11), on receipt of the information, visited the scene of occurrence at about 11.30 A.M. He prepared Observation Mahazar and rough sketch. He also conducted inquest and examined the witnesses. He recovered blood stained earth, sample earth and other things from the scene of occurrence. He sent Ex.P-9 requisition to the Doctor, Palladam Government Hospital to conduct autopsy. Doctor (PW-6) conducted postmortem and issued Postmortem Certificate (Ex.P-10) giving details of the injuries found all over the body. He was of the opinion that the deceased would appear to have died of contusion of brain matter and shock and haemorrhage due to injury to lungs. On 5-11-1996, at about 1.00 PM, Inspector of Police (PW- 11) arrested Al to A-3 and obtained their confession statements and in pursuance of the same, he recovered weapons M.O.1 (stick), M.0.2 (iron rod) and M.O.3 (aruval). Inspector of Police (P.W.12), who was the successor to P.W.11, finished the investigation and filed charge-sheet against all the accused under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC.;