The conviction must be based on a complete and reliable chain of circumstantial evidence, where extrajudicial confessions cannot solely establish guilt without corroboration.

JUDGMENT :

K.V. Jayakumar, J.

1. This appeal is preferred by the sole accused in S.C. No.290/2012 of the Special Court for SC/ST (POA) Act/Additional Sessions Court, Mannarkkad dated 17.05.2019. The appellant stood for trial for the offences punishable under Section 302 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE (‘IPC’ for the sake of brevity) and under Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (‘the SC/ST (POA) Act’ for the sake of brevity).

2. The learned Special Judge found the accused guilty for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC, convicted and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- with default sentence to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month. The learned Special Judge found the accused not guilty for the offence punishable under Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST (POA) Act.

The prosecution case

3. The appellant, Karuppaswamy, is alleged to have committed the murder of his own brother-in-law namely, Sundaran, on 15.11.2000. The appellant, Karuppaswamy, belongs to Valayan community, which comes under OBC category. The deceased Sundaran, a tribal man, fell in love with the sister of the accused, Sarasa, and they started to live together as husband and wife.

4. The prosecution case is that the deceased Sundaran used to harass his wife, Sarasa. The prosecution alleges that, on several occasions, the deceased had also attempted to molest Pappathi, the wife of the accused. On 14.11.2000, when the accused came back after watching a cinema, his wife Pappathi made complaints about the molestation by the deceased, Sundaran. Thereafter, the appellant took Sundaran to their common employer CW-16, Ramaswami, to discuss the said issue. Ramaswami, asked them to come on the subsequent day to resolve the issue. The prosecution further alleges that on the next day morning, i.e., on 15.11.2000, at about 12.30 pm, the accused picked up a chopper, went to the house of one Vathan @ Rangan and hacked the deceased with MO-1 chopper.

5. Thereafter, the appellant went to the Congress party office at Kottathara and made a confession to PW-1 that he killed Sundaran and the body is lying in the veranda of the house of Vathan @ Rangan (CW-9). The said confession was in the presence of Viswanathan (PW-10) and Avarachan (CW-3).

6. PW-1 (Rajan) and others rushed to the house of Vathan @ Rangan, and they found Sundaran lying in a pool of blood with cut injuries on his neck. The appellant proceeded further with the chopper, and he made a confession to PW-3, Sreenivasan, the brother of the deceased Sundaran. The prosecution further alleges that the appellant went to the house of Ramaswami and made a confession to CW-17, Sasikala, the daughter of Ramaswami. Thereafter, the accused went to Kottathara and stood in the bus waiting shed with MO-1, blood stained chopper.

7. PW-1 (Rajan) went to Sholayur Police Station and lodged Ext.P1, first information statement. PW5, the Sub Inspector of Police, Agali Police Station (T.K. Subramanyan), got information about the incident and he contacted Sholayur police. PW5 proceeded to the bus waiting shed at Kottathara, arrested the accused, and seized the blood-stained chopper. Then, he proceeded to the house of Vathan @ Rangan, where the dead body of Sundaran was lying.

8. On the basis of Ext.P1 FIS given by PW-1 (Rajan), Sholayur police registered the case as Crime No.87/2000 under Section 302 of IPC at 3.20 pm on 15.11.2000. PW-13, the Circle Inspector of Police, Agali, took up the investigation