ORDER :

1. This petition is filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure challenging the order dated 8.5.2023 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Kozhikode, rejecting the application filed by the 1st accused seeking to discharge Charge witness No. 156 and not to permit the prosecution to examine him as a witness.

2. Short facts are as under:

(a) The petitioner is the principal accused in SC 496/2020 on the file of the Court of Session. She is accused of having committed offenses punishable under Section 302, 465, 468, 471 r/w section 34 of the IPC.

(b) The prosecution allegation as per the charge is that the petitioner, motivated by personal satisfaction and her objectives, administered cyanide to her mother-in-law through food and followed it up with the murder of her father-in-law. Subsequently, she provided her husband with poisonous food, leading to the demise of all three individuals. Before administering poison to her father-in-law, the petitioner, with the assistance of accused Nos. 2 to 4, forged a Will in the name of Tom Thomas, the father-in-law, falsely bequeathing the Tharavad house and 38 ¾ cents of land to herself and her husband in equal shares. Several mo