The conviction for murder was upheld based on the coherent and corroborated testimonies of injured witnesses, affirming that minor discrepancies do not negate the prosecution's case.

JUDGMENT :

P. VELMURUGAN, J.

These criminal appeals have been preferred against the judgment passed by the learned I Additional District and Sessions Judge, Vellore in S.C.No.137 of 2013, dated 31.07.2019 convicting the appellants for the offence(s) and to undergo the sentence(s) as detailed hereunder:-

Challenging the above judgment of conviction and sentence, A1 has preferred Crl.A.No.648 of 2019, A2 has preferred Crl.A.No.509 of 2019 and A3 to A6 have preferred Crl.A.No.647 of 2019, respectively. Since the appeals are arising out of the common judgment, they are taken up together and disposed of by this common judgment. For convenience, the appellants will be hereinafter referred to as A1, A2 and A3 to A6 in this judgment.

2. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is as follows :-

(a) A1 to A5 are the residents of Ongapadi Village and A6 is the resident of Thellur Village. A1 and A2 are the brother-in-laws of A3, A4 and A5 are the sons of A3, and A6 is the son-in-law of A3. About two years prior to the occurrence, A3 purchased a vacant house site from one Dayalan and registered the same in favour of her sons, A4 and A5. The vacant site of the deceased, Mathi @ Mathiyalagan, is situated adjacent to A3’s property on the Northern side. When A3 caused her vacant site to be measured, it was found that a poromboke land measuring about six feet, lays in between the vacant sites of A3 and the deceased. Upon the deceased demanding a share in the said poromboke land, enmity arose between A3 and the deceased. Thereafter, when A3 attempted to dig a basement for construction of a house by encroaching upon the poromboke land, the same was resisted by the deceased and his wife Dharani, leading to a quarrel on 20.09.2012 at 10.30 a.m., during which time, A1 and his associates assaulted the deceased and his wife, thereby further intensifying the enmity.

(b) As the deceased continued to obstruct the construction, the accused decided to eliminate him. While so, on 20.09.2012 at 11.15 a.m., all the accused unlawfully assembled near the vacant site belonging to A3, armed with deadly weapons, such as a crowbar and shared a common object to murder the deceased. At that time, A3 instigated A1 and handed over a crowbar, pursuant to which A1 struck a heavy blow on the head of the deceased, causing fatal injuries. Simultaneously, A2 and A4 caught hold of the deceased, thereby facilitating and abetting A1 for committing the murder. Subsequently, the wife of the deceased lodged a complaint (Ex.P1).

(c) P.W.11, Sub Inspector of Police, on receipt of Ex.P1 from P.W.1, registered a case in Crime No.311 of 2012 for the offences punishable under Sections 147 , 148, 341, 294(b), 323, 324 and 302 IPC and prepared the First Information Report, Ex.P13. Thereafter, P.W.11 forwarded the copies of FIR, to the jurisdictional Court and higher officials.

(d) P.W.12, Inspector of Police, on receipt of Ex.P13 from P.W.11, took up further investigation on the same day and went to the place of occurrence on 20.09.2012 at about 16.00 hours and in the presence of witnesses Seshadri and P.W.7 - Rajendiran, he prepared the Observation Mahazar Ex.P2 and drew Rough Sketch Ex.P14. Thereafter, he seized the material objects M.O.2 blood stained soil mixed with small stones and M.O.3 ordinary soil mixed with small stones under the seizure mahazar Ex.P3. He enquired the witnesses P.Ws.1 to 7. Subsequently, on 21.09.2012, he conducted inquest on the body of the deceased in the presence of the witnesses and Panchayatdars and prepared the inquest report, Ex.P15. Thereafter, he sent the body of the deceased t