The appellate court can overturn a trial court's acquittal if the findings are perverse, emphasizing the importance of eyewitness testimony and the presumption of innocence.

JUDGMENT :

C.KUMARAPPAN, J.

PRAYER: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 378(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code to set aside the judgment of acquittal of the respondents/accused A1 to A6 and A9 to A11 in SC.No.233 of 2014 on the file of the XIX Additional Sessions Court, Chennai dated 26.04.2018 and convict the respondents/accused A1 to A6 and A9 to A11 for the charges framed against them.

PRAYER: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 372(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code to set aside the judgment of the learned XIX Additional Sessions Court, Chennai acquitting the accused 2 to 12 in SC.No.233 of 2014 dated 26.04.2018 and convict the accused 2 to 7 and 12 of the offences under Sections 120(b) r/w 302, 147, 148, 448 r/w 149, 302 r/w 34, 336 r/w 149, 427 r/w 149 and 506(ii) r/w 149 IPC and convict the accused 10 and 11 of the offences under Sections 120(b) r/w 302, 143 and 302 r/w 149 sentence them to imprisonment setting aside the order passed by the learned XIX Additional Sessions Court, Chennai and punish the accused under Sections 120(b) r/w 302, 143, 147, 148, 448 r/w 149, 302 r/w 34, 302 r/w 149, 336 r/w 149, 427 r/w 149 and 506(ii) r/w 149 IPC.

The instant Criminal Appeals have been filed against the order of acquittal passed in SC.No.233 of 2014 vide judgment dated 26.04.2018. The Criminal Appeal No.126 of 2019 was filed by the State. The other Criminal Appeal No.420 of 2019 was preferred by the mother of the deceased. Since both the appeals arises out of the same judgment passed in SC.No.233 of 2014, we deem it appropriate to take up both the appeals jointly for disposal.

2. There were 11 accused in this case. It appears that during the pendency of the Trial, the 7th accused died. Therefore, the charge against the 7th accused got abated. As far as the 8th accused, the case was split up and renumbered as SC.No.72 of 2017 as he had absconded. We are now concerned with accused 1 to 6, 9 to 11 in these appeals.

3. According to the prosecution, 1st accused-Ramesh, 2nd accused-Pandu @ Pandurangan, 4th accused-Prakash and 5th accused-Suresh are brothers. The 9th accused-Mariamma is the mother of the accused 1, 2, 4 and 5, and mother-in-law of the 10th accused-Chitra. The 3rd accused-Sathish @ Sathishkumar, 6th accused-Ravi, and 11th accused-Kutti @ Dillibabu are the friends of the accused 1, 2, 4 and 5.

4. Shun of unnecessary details, the following facts which are essential for disposal of the instant Criminal Appeal are as follows:-

(a) The deceased Siva, who was basically an auto driver, also used to lease out his autos. The accused 1 to 6, and 11 are also auto drivers. Both the deceased and the accused were plying autos from “Narayana Mission School auto stand”. It appears that the accused 1, 2, 4 and 5 had quarrels with the deceased regarding parking stand issues, and there was an altercation between them about 3 months back. However, the same was subsequently compromised at Ashok Nagar police station. It appears that the accused gave an undertaking to the police that, they will not disturb the deceased. However, after some time, the accused again started giving trouble to the deceased and also developed squabbles and quarrels with him very often. While so, the 1st accused, his mother-9th accused and the 1st accused brother's wife-10th accused, have also intimidated the deceased to vacate their house. Thus, all the accused had an unquenched grudge against the deceased and proclaimed very often to do away the deceased.

(b) On 03.06.2012 afternoon, the deceased was resting in his bed. At about 3.45 p.m, the 1st accused Ramesh, 2nd accused Pandu @ Pandurangan, 4th accused Prakash, and 5th accused Suresh, suddenly entered the deceased's house, and after indiscriminately attacking the deceased with a patta knife, dragged him to the road, and again attacked him with the weapon. The accused 9 and 10 had instigated the other accused to do away the deceased, PW1 and PW2. It appears that PW1 and PW2 escaped from their attack. After the grueso