BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT Reserved On : 06.12.2023 Pronounced On : 07.03.2024 CORAM:

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE K.K.RAMAKRISHNAN Crl.O.P.(MD)No.5177 of 2020 and Crl.M.P(MD)Nos.2973 and 2974 of 2020 Nithya .. Petitioner/ Accused No.5 Vs.

1. State represented by, The Inspector of Police, Thiruverumbur Police Station, Tiruchirapalli District. .. 1^st Respondent/Respondent

2. Ranjith Kumar .. 2^nd Respondent/Defacto Complainant PRAYER: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. praying to call for the records in connection with the Charge sheet in S.C.No.148 of 2022 dated 07.09.2022 on the file of the District and Sessions Court, Trichy as against the Petitioner/Accused Rank-5 and quash the same as against the Petitioner/Accused Rank-5 alone.

(Amended as per order of the Court dated 04.01.2023 in Crl.M.P(MD)No.15832 of 2022 in Crl.O.P.(MD).No.5177 of 2020 by K.M.S.J.)

For Petitioner : Mr.V.Kathirvelu, Senior Counsel for Mr.D.Selvanayagam For Respondents : Mr.M.Muthumanikkam, Government Advocate(Crl.Side)

for R1 : Mr.T.R.Subramanian for R2

ORDER

This petition is filed to quash the Charge sheet in S.C.No.148 of

2022 dated 07.09.2022 on the file of the District and Sessions Court, Trichy, as against the Petitioner/Accused No.5.

2.The petitioner is Accused No.5 in S.C.No.148 of 2022 on the file of the learned District and Sessions Judge, Trichy. She is alleged to have conspired with the other accused and committed murder of one Rajini. The respondent police filed the final report against the petitioner and other accused for the offence under Sections 109, 147, 148, 149, 120B, 294(b), 302, 307, 506(ii) and 341 IPC. In the final report, it is stated that the petitioner abetted to commit murder of the said Rajini. As per the averment in the final report, the deceased Rajini alias Karuappaiya is a friend of one Guru. The said Guru is the husband of the petitioner. The said Guru and Rajini were earlier doing prawn culture business for which Rajni received the investment from Guru and did not make the repayment as per the agreement. Hence, he demanded money from the income of the said prawn culture business on the ratio of the amount sent by him. He was unable to return the money and hence, Rajini entrusted the car which stands in the name of Rajini's mother. Because of the mortgage, Rajini was unable to pay the due and hence, Guru and the petitioner are said to have sold the car to L.W20-Siva, who conducts car business in the name of “Sri Amman Cars”. The same was questioned by the deceased Rajini and he scolded the petitioner and Guru and also assaulted them in the public place and hence, the petitioner/A5 returned the money to L.W.20 and received the car back from L.W20- Siva. After receipt of the car from L.W20, the deceased threatened A5 and A1 and had taken the car from the custody of the A5. Parallelly, A4, who is a friend of A1 had some other motive with regard to some other business transaction with the deceased Rajini. Hence, they conspired together to murder Rajini and approached A2, who is a history sheeted rowdy and A2 engaged A3 and A7 to commit the murder. As per their plan, A3 and A7, who are the hirelings of the accused conspired together and murdered the deceased Rajini on the date of occurrence, ie., on 08.07.2019. Hence, the case was registered and investigation was conducted and final report was also filed before the concerned Court and the same was taken on file in S.C.No.148 of 2022 dated 07.09.2022 on the file of the District and Sessions Court, Trichy.

3. As per the final report, allegation against the petitioner is that she abetted the commission of murder by other accused. Hence, final report was filed against her for the offence under Section 302 read with 109 IPC. To substantiate the allegation, prosecution examined L.W.20-Siva. He stated before the investigating agency that A5 and A2 approached him and sold the car belonging to the deceased Rajani and the said car was returned to the pe