The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of Section 27 of the Evidence Act to determine the admissibility of confessions and related discoveries, emphasizing the need to establish a distinct connection between the confession and the facts discovered.

Burn, J.

1. On the morning of 13th October 1939, an Adi Dravida named Mandan (P.W. 9) who lives in Poonamallee found a corpse floating in a well called Mangadu Mudaliars well. He saw a crowd of people searching in a neighbouring well and he told them what he had seen. Amongst that crowd was Mahadeva Chettiar (P.W. 8). He and the other people with him were looking for his mother Kanniammal who had left home the previous evening at about 6-30 to deliver some oil at the house of one Abdul Wahab Sahib and had not returned. P.W. 8 had reported the disappearance of his mother at the police station in Poonamallee at 1-10 A.M. on the 13th {vide Ex. P) and had requested the police to make enquiries about her disappearance. He mentioned there that his mother was in the habit of wearing valuable jewels consisting of a gold chain made out of twenty sovereigns, gold bangles and kammals set with red stones. P.W. 8, on hearing what P.W. 9 had discovered, went to the well of Mangadu Mudaliar and saw that the corpse in the well was the corpse of his mother. He therefore went again to the police station at 7 A.M. and reported this fact. The police had the body lifted out of the well and held an inquest which showed that the woman had been brutally murdered. No jewels were found upon the body except a nose screw. After the inquest the body was sent to the doctor in charge of the Poonamallee hospital and on the afternoon of 13th October he made a post mortem examination. He found that the womans lower jaw had been fractured, that there was a contused wound on her face, abrasions on her face and neck, that the lobes of both ears had been torn through and that seven ribs on either side of the chest had been fractured. All these injuries had been inflicted before death and were the cause of death. There were no signs of drowning.

2. The two appellants were tried by the learned Sessions Judge of Chingleput for the murder of Kanniammal. The unanimous opinion of the assessors was that accused 1 was guilty of murder and that accused 2 was guilty of an offence under Section 201, Penal Code. The learned Sessions Judge agreed with the assessors and convicted accused 1 of murder and sentenced him to death. He convicted accused 2 under Section 201, Penal Code, and sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment. Accused 1 is the brother-in-law of Abdul Wahab Sahib, and the evidence of P.Ws. 4 and 5, the granddaughter and grandson of the deceased was that on the evening of 12th October accused 1 came to their house to tell their grandmother Kanniammal that oil was required at the house of Abdul Wahab. Both these witnesses say that their grandmother picked up the vessel containing oil and the other implements of her trade and went off to deliver oil as requested. The police in their investigation found that she had actually delivered oil at the house of Abdul Wahab that evening. A dhobi (P.W. 6) said that he had seen the deceased going in the direction of Abdul Wahabs house followed by both the accused. Narasamma (P.W. 7) who lives on the way between the house of the deceased and the house of Abdul Wahab also said that she had seen the deceased going in the direction of Abdul Wahabs house followed by the two accused.

3. The most important evidence is connected with the discovery of Kanniammals gold chain, gold bangles and ear ornaments. Accused 1 was arrested after the inquest and on the morning of 14th October he made a confession to the Circle Inspector (P.W. 14). The portions of this confession admissible under Section 27, Evidence Act, relate to M.Os. 1, 6, 7 and 8. He alleged that Kanniammal had been beaten with a brick by accused 2 and offered to show the place where the murder had taken place. He showed in the backyard of Abdul Wahabs house a piece of brick (M.O. 1) upon which stains of blood were found. These stains were afterwards proved to be stains of human blood. Accused 1 further said that after Kanniammal has been murdered he and accused