The judgment highlights the importance of reliable witness testimonies, proper evidence collection, and adherence to legal procedures in establishing criminal liability.

P.N. Prakash, J.

1. Crl.A.No.759 of 2012 has been filed by Accused Nos.2, 4 and 6, Crl.A.No.765 of 2012 has been filed by Accused No.1, Crl.A.No.858 of 2012 has been filed by Accused No.3 and Crl.A.No.190 of 2013 has been filed by Accused No.5, in S.C.No.274 of 2010 on the file of learned III Additional District and Sessions Judge, Tirupattur, Vellore District. As all the appeals arise out of the common sessions case, they are disposed of by the following common judgment.

2. For the sake of convenience, the appellants will be referred in the order they were arrayed before the trial Court.

3. (a) It is the case of the prosecution that the appellants had entered the house of the deceased, Poochi (D-1) and Chinnapillai (D-2), wife of Poochi (D-1), on 17.12.2002 at around 10.30 p.m. and committed dacoity, in the course of which, they caused the death of Poochi (D-1) and his wife, Chinnapillai (D-2) and decamped with their jewellery.

(b) It is the further case of the prosecution that the son of the deceased, Babu (P.W.1), who was sleeping in the house, was forcibly covered with a blanket by A-1, A-2 and others and that A-1 demanded from P.W.1 as to where the jewellery and other valuable things are kept in the house, by threatening him with a knife. It is further alleged that two of them were tightly holding on to P.W.1 and A-1 went into the house in search of booty. After some time, when the pressure on P.W.1 was relieved, he went into the house and shocked to find that his parents were not there. Thereafter, he found a blanket and a mat floating in the well of the house. He informed the neighbours and when the villagers came, they drained the water from the well and retrieved the bodies of the deceased from there.

(c) P.W.1 went to the jurisdictional police station, namely, Jamnamarathur Police Station, where his statement was taken down in writing by Matheswaran (P.W.11), Sub-Inspector of Police, who registered a case in Jamnamarathur P.S. Crime No.26 of 2008 for the offences under Sections 302, 201 and 379 IPC at 15.00 hours on 18.12.2002. A copy of the printed F.I.R. (Ex.P-36) was despatched to the jurisdictional Magistrate, who received the same at 3.00 p.m. on 18.12.2002, as could be seen from the endorsement thereon.

(d) Further investigation of the case was taken over by Raja (P.W.24), Inspector of Police, who went to the place of occurrence and prepared the observation mahazar (Ex.P-48) and rough sketch (Ex.P-49). He examined the witnesses and conducted inquest over the body of Poochi (D-1) at 12.30 hours and prepared the inquest report, which was marked as Ex.P-50. The inquest report over the body of Chinnapillai (D-2), which was held at 2.30 p.m., was marked as Ex.P-51. He despatched the bodies for post-mortem to the Government Hospital, Tiruvannamalai.

(e) Dr.Moorthy (P.W.14) performed the autopsy on the body of Poochi (D-1) and in the post-mortem certificate, Ex.P-37, issued by him, he has opined that death was on account of asphyxia due to strangulation.

(f) Dr.Moorthy (P.W.14) also performed autopsy on the body of Chinnapillai (D-2) and he issued Ex.P-38, post-mortem certificate, opining that death was on account of asphyxia due to strangulation.

(g) P.W.24 continued the investigation and examined several witnesses. He requisitioned the services of the finger print expert, Ganapathy (P.W.23), who came to the scene of occurrence on 18.12.2002 and was said to have lifted finger prints from an iron trunk and from the door frame of the house.

(h) On 21.12.2002, on the basis of secret information, P.W.24 arrested Jayabalan (A-1), Bala @ Balasubramani (A-2), Mose @ Moses (A-3) and Thirumurugan (A-5). He recorded the confession statements of these accused in the presence of Arumugam (P.W.9) and Jayashankar (P.W.10). The admissible portions of the confession statements were marked as Ex.P-55 (A-1), Ex.P-56 (A-2), Ex.P-57 (A-3) and Ex.P-64 (A-5). From the disclosure statement of A-1, P.W.24 recovered a TVS-Suzuki motor bike un