R.N.MANJULA, J.

This Criminal Appeal has been preferred by the Appellant/A-2 to set aside the conviction and sentence made in S.C.No. 34/2015 on the file of the learned III Additional Sessions Judge, Puducherry dated 07.09.2017, as tabulated hereunder:

2. The facts of the case in brief are as follows:

The house of the deceased is situated opposite to Abirami Leather Industry, K.S.Nagar, Thondamanatham, near Pathukannu Junction Villiamur, Puducherry. On 12.07.2011 at about 01.30 hours, the second accused along with one Sadu Sardar and Pradip Gosh (case against the other two accused has been already split up in PRC.No.22/2015), in furtherance of common intention of murdering the deceased murdered him by strangulation. Hence they committed the offence under Section 302 r/w 34 IPC. On receiving the complaint (Ex.P1) from PW.1/Vijayadass at about 9.00 hours on 12.07.2011, PW.15/Arumugham, Sub Inspector of Police, Villianur Police Station has registered an FIR (Ex.P25) in Cr.No.233/2011 under Section 302 r/w 34 IPC.

2.1. P.W.16- Dr.S.Baskaran took up the investigation. He went to the place of occurrence at 10.30 am and inspected the place of occurrence and he prepared an Observation Mahazar (Ex.P.26) and Rough Sketch (Ex.P.4) in the presence of the witnesses. He collected the bloodstained mortar (M.O.2), plain mortar (M.O.3) and shirt (M.O.1) from the place of occurrence covered under Mahazar Ex.P.29. The body of the deceased was kept in the Government Hospital Mortuary. He enquired PW.1 and other witnesses and thereafter, he arrested the accused at their residence and sent them for medical examination. When he enquired A1 to A3 they gave confession statements and the same was recorded in the presence of VAO and one Sudhakar. Since the accused spoke in Hindi, their statements were recorded after getting them translated into Tamil by the translators.

2.2. On the basis of their confession, the shirt and pant of A-2 (M.O.5 and M.O.6) and the shirt and pant of A-3 (M.O.8) were recovered under Seizure Mahazar (Ex.P.33). After sending the accused for remand, P.W.16 went to hospital and conducted the Inquest on the body of the deceased in the presence of panchayatars and prepared the Inquest Report (Ex.P.34). Thereafter, he sent the body of the deceased for postmortem. He caused the viscera to be sent to the forensic lab for chemical examination. He enquired the witnesses and the doctor who conducted the postmortem and collected the postmortem certificate (Ex.P.12). He enquired the photographer Selvaganapathy and other witnesses. After completing the investigation, he filed the charge sheet against the accused for the offence under Sec.302 r/w 34 IPC.

2.3. After taking cognizance of the case, the learned Judicial Magistrate-III, Puducherry, duly complied with the formalities under Sec.207 & 209 Cr.P.C and committed the case to the Sessions Court, Puducherry.

2.4. The case against the accused (A1 and A3) got spilt up and pending in PRC.No.22/2015. And NBWs are pending against them for a long time without execution.

2.5. During the course of the trial on the side of the prosecution, 16 witnesses were examined as PW.1 to 16 and 34 documents were marked as Exs.P.1 to P.34 and 12 material objects have been produced as M.Os.1 to 12. The incriminating circumstances appearing in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses were put to the accused while questioning under Sec. 313 Cr.P.C. and he denied the same as false. On the side of the defence, no witness was examined and no document was marked.

2.6. The trial Court upon hearing both side arguments and on perusal of the oral and documentary evidence, convicted and sentenced the accused as stated supra. Challenging the same A-2 has preferred this Criminal Appeal.

3. The evidence of th