JUDGMENT

(Judgment of the Court was made by V.LAKSHMINARAYANAN, J.

The present appeal is one against acquittal. The State challenges the acquittal of the sole respondent in S.C.No.217 of 2009 on the file of the I Additional District and Sessions Judge, Salem dated 15.09.2020. The State wants to convict the respondent for the murder of two individuals, namely, Sundarajan and Kuppusamy.

2. The case of the prosecution is that the aforesaid two gentlemen were attacked, by as many as 24 persons, who constituted an unlawful assembly. The deceased were pelted with stones and beaten with sticks on 15.07.2003. The incident is said to have taken place at three locations, namely, (i) Veemanur Bus Stop, (ii) in front of Mariamman Temple and (iii) near one Anai Gounder's house.

The last two locations being at Pallikoodathanur.

3. According to the prosecution, the motive is twofold. First, that the first deceased i.e., Sundarajan and one Natesan were the members of a communist party. On account of differences, the deceased were excluded from the party. They, in turn, formed an association, which can be loosely termed as “Rajinikanth Fan's Association”. Under the banner of this association, they had c