C O M M O N J U D G M E N T

P.N.PRAKASH , J .

These criminal appeals are filed against the Judgment and Order, dated 01.04.2019, in S.C.No.9 of 2012, on the file the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Virudhunagar.

2. The Trial Court framed two charges against the appellants, as detailed below:

Charge	Penal Provisions	Accused
1	302 I.P.C.	A1 to A4
2	506 (II) I.P.C.	A2 & A3

3. It is seen that pending trial, Irulan (A1) died and therefore, the charges framed against him were abated.

4. By Judgment dated 01.04.2019, the Trial Court convicted the appellants and sentenced them, as detailed below:-

Accused	Section of Law	Sentence of imprisonment	Fine amount
A2 to A4	302 I.P.C.	To undergo imprisonment for life.	Rs.5,000/- in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three (3) months.
A2 & A3	506 (II) I.P.C.	To undergo two (2) years rigorous imprisonment.	Nil

The sentences imposed on the accused 2 and 3 were ordered to run concurrently. The period of sentence already undergone by accused 2 to 4 has been set off under Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

5. The prosecution case is as under:

5.1. At the outset, it would be apt to point out that there are two Madurai Veerans in this case. They are, Madurai Veeran (P.W. 1), son of the deceased Marudhan and Madurai Veeran (A3), son of Irulan (A1).

5.2. The deceased Marudhan and Irulan (A1) were related to each other and they owned agricultural lands in the southern side of Tamilpadi Village. They shared a common boundary and also had a common well, from where both of them used to draw water.

As is normal in the countryside, both had longstanding disputes with regard to shareing of the water from the common well. While so, it is alleged that on 28.08.2009, around 8 o'clock in the morning, when the deceased Marudhan was drawing water from the common well by using a pumpset, he was fatally attacked by Irulan (A1) and his three sons, namely, Amirtharaj (A2), Madurai Veeran (A3) and Packiaraj (A4), in the presence of his son Madurai Veeran (P.W.1) and his daughter-in-law Nagajothi (P.W.2). After attacking the deceased Marudhan indiscriminately, they severed his left hand and took it as a trophy with them. When Madurai Veeran (P.W.1) tried to interfere, he was threatened by the group and therefore, he feigned helplessness. The foursome left the place of occurrence with the severed hand of the deceased in their M80 Motorcycle (M.O.5)

bearing registration No.TN59 J0008.

5.3. On a written complaint (Ex.P1) given by Madurai Veeran (P.W.1), Kaalaichamy (P.W.8), Head Constable, registered a case in Thiruchuli Police Station Crime No.220 of 2009, on 28.08.2009, at 10.00 a.m., for the offences under Sections 302 and 506(II) I.P.C., against Irulan (A1), Amirtharaj (A2), Madurai Veeran (A3) and Packiaraj (A4) and prepared the printed First Information Report (Ex.P13), which reached the jurisdictional Magistrate at 05.51 p.m., on the same day, as could be seen from the endorsement thereon. The investigation of the case was taken over by Padhamuthu (P.W. 9), Inspector of Police, Thiruchuli Police Station, who went to the place of occurrence at 10.30 a.m., and prepared the Observation Mahazar (Ex.P3) and Rough Sketch (Ex.P14) in the presence of the witnesses Paulraj (not examined) and Raman (P.W.3). From the place of occurrence, he recovered bloodstained soil (M.O.8) and soil without bloodstain (M.O.9) under the Cover of a Mahazar (Ex.P4). He conducted inquest over the body of the deceased and the Inquest Report was marked as Ex.P15.

5.4. In the meanwhile, a severed hand was found near a bridge in Aruppukkottai and on information, Chandrasekaran (P.W. 5), Village Administrative Officer of Aruppukkottai, went to the place, found the severed hand and informed it to Aruppukkottai Police Station. On getting information about this, Padhamuthu (P.W.9) went to Aruppukkottai, where the severed hand was found in a fertilizer bag (M.O.7) and a bloodstained billhook (M.O.2) b

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