S.NAGAMUTHU, J. - (1.) The appellants in Crl.A.No.874 of 2016 are accused 3 and 4 and the appellants in Crl.A.No.76 of 2017 are the accused 2 and 5 in S.C.No.48 of 2012 on the file of the learned Sessions Judge No.II, Kancheepuram. The first accused was one Mr.Kumar. The trial Court framed as many as three charges against them as detailed below: Serial Number of charge Charge(s) framed against Charge(s) framed under Section 1 A1 to A5 450 of IPC 2 A1 to A5 395 r/w 397 of IPC 3 A1 to A5 302 of IPC By judgment dated 31.07.2015, the trial Court convicted all the five accused under all the three charges and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and pay a fine of Rs.1000/- each in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year for the offence under Section 450 I.P.C.; to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs.1000/- each in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year for offence under Section 397 I.P.C. and to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs.1000/- each in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year for offence under Section 302 I.P.C. Challenging the said conviction and sentence, the accused 2 to 5 are before this Court with these two appeals.
(2.) The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows: 2.1. There is a temple known as "Pooniamman Temple" at Thirumangalam Kandigai Village in Kancheepuram district. The deceased in this case was one Mr.Subramani. He used to sleep in front of the temple during night hours everyday. On 02.01.2010 around 11.00 p.m., it is alleged that all these five accused, broke open the main door of the temple, trespassed into the same, broke open the hundi kept inside the temple and committed robbery of Rs.500/- from the said hundi. On hearing the noise, the deceased, who was sleeping in front of the temple, tried to raise alarm. All the five accused, with a view to escape from the said place with decamped amount, surrounded him. The accused 3 to 5 caught him hold and the second accused, attacked him with a wooden reaper on the back of the head and the first accused attacked him with a crowbar on his head. The deceased fell down and died instantaneously. Abandoning the dead body at the same place, all the five accused fled away from the scene of occurrence. The occurrence was not witnessed by anyone. 2.2. P.W.6 a resident of Kandigai village, used to visit the temple around 06.15 a.m. everyday for darshan. As usual, on 03.01.2010, he went to the temple. Just in front of the temple, he found the deceased lying dead with injuries on his head. Immediately, he rushed to the house of P.W.3 and informed him about the same. P.W.3 in turn informed P.W.1 who was the husband of the then Village Panchayat Board President. P.W.1 rushed to the place of occurrence and found the deceased lying dead. Inside the temple, he found the hundi broken open and the currency notes and coins had been stolen. Then, he went to Sunguarchathiram Police Station at 08.00 a.m. on 03.01.2010 and made a complaint. A case was registered on the same in Crime No.8 of 2010 under Sections 457, 380 and 302 I.P.C. Ex.P1 is the complaint and Ex.P20 is the F.I.R. He forwarded both the documents to the Court and the same was received by the learned Magistrate at 04.30 p.m. on 03.01.2010. 2.3. The case was taken up for investigation by P.W.18 the then Inspector of Police. He went to the place of occurrence and prepared an observation mahazar and a rough sketch. At his request, P.W.11, the forensic expert, visited the place of occurrence and with his assistants, P.W.18 recovered the bloodstain earth and sample earth from the place of occurrence. He held inquest on the body of the deceased and forwarded the same for postmortem. 2.4. P.W.14 Dr.Yamuna conducted autopsy on the body of the deceased on 03.11.2010 at 02.15 p.m. She found the following injuries: "External injures: Nasal bleeding present, eyes - partially open. Laceration 3x2x1 cm behind right ear. Laceration behind right ear (occipital region) 6x4x3 cm exposing skull bone. Teethes 8/8 | 8/8. Internal injuries: Skull-fracture present occipital and right temporal bone, exposing brain tissue. Skull opened - clotted blood present all over the skull. Clotted blood present all over the brain. Right side brain contused. Chest - no fracture; lungs - pale, heart - pale, 30 ml blood found in the chambers. Liver, Spleen, Kidneys - pale. 250 gms undigested food found in the stomach. Pale yellow fluid found in the intestines." Ex.P6 is the postmortem certificate. She gave opinion that the death of the deceased was due to shock and hemorrhage due to multiple injuries. She further opined that the injury could have been caused by weapons like crowbar, wooden reaper and knife. 2.5. P.W.18 recovered the bloodstained clothes from the body of the deceased. Since he was transferred, at that stage, the investigation was taken over by his successor P.W.19. 2.6. On 14.09.2010, around 03.00 p.m. at Sokandi village, P.W.19 arrested the first accused in the presence of the witnesses. On such arrest, he made a voluntary confession, in which he disclosed that he had hidden a crowbar at his house. In pursuance of the same, he took the police and the witness to his house and produced M.O.9-crowbar. Then, from out of the said disclosure statement on the same day at 04.15 p.m. at Pullur village, he arrested the second accused. On such arrest, the second accused made a voluntary confession, in which, he disclosed the place where he had hidden a wooden reaper. In pursuance of the same, he took the police and the witness to the place of hideout and produced M.O.10-wooden reaper. In the same statement, he further stated that he had identified the shop where he had pledged a gold thali. 2.7. The second accused identified the third accused. On the same day at 05.00 p.m. P.W.19 arrested the third accused. While in custody, he made a voluntary confession, in which, he disclosed the place where he had hidden a eye cap made of silver. In pursuance of the same, he took the police and the witnesses to the place of hideout and produced M.O.2-silver eye cap. 2.8. The first accused then identified the 4th accused and at 05.30 p.m. P.W.19 arrested the 4th accused. While in custody, he made a voluntary confession, in which he disclosed the place where he had hidden a knife. In pursuance of the same he took the police and the witnesses to the place of hide out and produced M.O.3-knife. 2.9. On being identified by the first accused, P.W.19 arrested the 5th accused at 05.30 p.m. On such arrest, he made a voluntary confession, in which he disclosed the place where he had hidden a pooja plate. In pursuance of the same, he took the police and the witnesses to the place of hide out and produced M.O.4-pooja plate. 2.10. The second accused then took the police and the witnesses to the pawn broker shop belonging to P.W.13. From P.W.13, M.O.1 gold thali was recovered. On returning to the police station, P.W.19 forwarded all the accused to the Court and also forwarded the material objects to Court. At that time, since he was transferred, the investigation was taken up by his successor P.W.20. 2.11. P.W.20 has stated that the material objects which were sent to forensic lab for chemical examination revealed that there were human bloodstains on the material objects. On completing the investigation, he laid charge sheet against all the accused. 2.12. Based on the above materials, the trial Court convicted all the five accused and that is how the accused 2 to 5 are before this Court with these appeals.
(3.) We have heard the learned counsel appearing for the appellants, the learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the State and also perused the records carefully.;