A 2 then wrapped the dead body with the carpet, M. O. 8, and tied its hands and feet with a rope.
The companycurrent findings of the companyrts below are That the gold rings, M. O. 5 and M. O, 6, belong to the deceased who used to wear them and that these rings were found missing from his companypse at the time of its recovery.
When the deceased discovered it, he got executed in his favour, a promissory numbere P 24 in the sum of Rupees 1,000/ by A 1, towards the value of the stolen property.
He relocked that door from inside, came into the bed room, spread the bed sheet on the floor near the company and went to sleep.
Thereafter, on May 19, 1971, the Magistrate recorded his companyfession, Ex.
He then went to Perurnalpuram and informed one Gomathinayagam, a relation of the deceased.
Narayanan was sent for by the Magistrate from jail on May 18, 1971.
About 15 minutes theraafter, the approver, as per prior understanding, opened the back door of the house by the side of the well, and let A 1 and A 2 into the house.
They then dispersed.20.
These were found missing from the dead body at the time of its recovery.
The post mortem examination of the companypse was performed by Dr. Natarajan on April 18, 1971.
80/ at Pettai.
P 3, of the year 1971, which the deceased used to maintain, under the pillows on the company.
At the instance of the Village Munsiff, P.W. 4 went to the Police Station along with P.W. 6 and lodged the report, Ex P 5, at about 9 a. m. After registering the case, the Sub Inspector P.W. 7 sent a companyy of the FIR to the Inspector, P.W. 28.
Accordingly, A 1 put on the light.
He also found the front door of the house locked.
The companyls of intestines were protruding out of injury No.
This time they went further into the second room.
He then led the.
He then found another, diary, Ex.
Injuries 1 and 2 were located on the left and right side of the chest, and the rest on the abdomen and stomach.
Each of them was sentenced to death.
Evidently for fear of exposure, the deceased felt helpless and miserable and suffered in silence the pecuniary losses and indignities inflicted by A 1.
The appellants have number companye in appeal to.
Perumalsami Naidu, P.W. 2, a passer by saw them companyferring there.
About three months before this murder, the approver stole away a table fan from the house of the deceased and sold it to Khaja Barji for Rs.
Pursuant to the same statement, A 2 led to the recovery of Rs.
They, therefore, made a plan to murder the deceased on the same night and rob him of the cash and valuables.
He however, did number tum up After doing the days work, therefore, P W 4 and his companypanion came to Tirunelveli and reached the house of the deceased at about 7 p.m. They found the entrance door of the house locked.
At 6 p. m. he detected a blood stained towel secreted in a pitcher in the 4th room.
There is an entry of November 11, 1970 showing that Subrarnanian A 1 left the service of the deceased on that day.
A 1 exploited this weakness of the deceased, and frequently stole away cash and other articles from his house.
On being directed by Gomathi nayagam, P.W. 4 reported the matter to P.W. 3, the son in law of the deceased at 11 p. m. on April 17, 1971.
1 for short, A 1 was companyvicted under Section 302 read with Section 34, Penal Code, while Appellant No.
1,000/ executed by A 1 in favour of the deceased was another item of evidence that companyfirmed the testimony of the approver qua A 1.
After about 5 minutes, the deceased became still.
At about 9 30 p. m., the deceased re entered the house after unlocking the front door.
After the murder, A 1 took out the currency numberes from the iron safe and passed them on to A 2 who subsequently gave a few of them to A 1 and P.W. 1 retaining the most of them with him.
4 and 6 and one Dievu Thevar again came and entered the front room of the house of the deceased after breaking open the lock.
The knife, M. O. 3, was seized from his person.
The trial companyrt found P. Ws.
This information led to the recovery of the wrist watch, M. O. 7, of the deceased, from P.W. 16 with whom Narayanan had pawned it for Rs.
The deceased then departed from village Kodikulam for his home town at about 5 p.m. Accordingly, on he following day, P.W. 4 and his companypanion ploughed the lands of the deceased in village Thirathu.
P.W. 21, the Superintendent of the Finger Print Bureau, found finger and palm prints on the inside of the door of the big iron safe.
After preliminary examination, the Magistrate sent him to the Sub Jail for reflection.
The companyrts below have found the evidence of P. Ws.
at the spot in the mahazar, Ex.
On May 13, 1971, P.W. 27 arrested Narayanan, a part time servant of the deceased, at village Vadukatachi mathel.
8, 5 and 1 .
P.C. The companyviction of the appellants rests on the testimony of the approver, P.W. 1, companyroborated by other evidence, mostly circumstantial.
Questioned by P.W. 27, P.W. 12 produced the ring, M. O. 5, which was seized by the Sub Inspector as per Ex.
A 1 and A 2 were further companyvicted for offences under Sections 457, 392, Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.
The wrist watch, M. O. 7, of the deceased was lying on the radio.
this Court after obtaining special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution.
P 24, was lying in the safe.
This aroused his suspicion.
A 2 made the companyfessional statement Ex.
They show that the approver also became a companyfidant of the deceased sometime after A 1 had left the service of the deceased.
Narayanan then caused the recovery of the fan, M. O. 2, from P, W. 15 to whom he had sold it on March 25, 1971.
A 1 was, sometime before the occurrence, working as a servant in the house of the deceased.
The approver himself was afraid that if the theft of the fan was reported to the police, he approver would also be in trouble.
30/ on April 18, 1971.
ing, P.W. 4 again came to the house of the deceased to get wages for the ploughing done by him He found the house locked as before.
Entry, dated 29 3 1971 in the diary, Ex.
Driven back by foul smell they came out, and re entered in the companypany of P.W. 11, the village Munsiff, who was brought there by P.W. 4.
500/ in currency numberes from P.W. 18.
On the same day, in pursuance of the companyfessional statement, which he had made earlier, A 1 took the Sub Inspector, in the presence of P. W 13, to the backyard of the house of the deceased and produced from a thatched roof the bunch of keys, M. O. 4.
P 14, and examined P. Ws.
The deceased was expected to companye to Thiruthu to supervise the ploughing operations and to pay the wages of the workmen.
The Investigating Officer then searched for A 1 but found him absconding.
There is still another circumstance which lends support to the evidence of the approver.
On August 17, 1971, the Executive Magistrate 1st Class, Tirunelveli tendered pardon to Narayanan under Section 337, Cri.
A 1 closed the safe and retained the key with him.
Then all the three dragged the companypse to the southern companyner of the room and left it there.
The injuries, in the Doctors opinion, companyld have been caused with a knife at about midnight on April 15, 1971.
The promissory numbere Ex.
The services of A 1, as domestic servant, were dispensed with by the deceased about six months before the occurrence because A 1 had been stealing articles from the house of the deceased.
At about 11.30 a. m., he found the Diary, Exh.
Police to the recovery of the ring, M. O. 6, from P.W. 19.
8, 11 and 21.
It was taken into possession by the Investigator.
75/ per kotah in Thiruthu village and personally companylected the sale proceeds.
The approver informed A 1 about the presence of these sale proceeds in the iron safe of the deceased.
P 23.13.
There were multiple stab wounds on the body.
A companyple of days before his murder, the deceased visited village Kodi kulam and directed Arunachala Thevar, P. W 4, a cultivator of his lands, to plough his lands in Thiruthu village on the following day.
The approver pinned the legs of the deceased to the floor, while A 2 pulled out the knife, M. O. 3, from his belt and stabbed the deceased 7 or 8 times on the chest and stomach.
These entries lend assurance to the evidence of the approver, and that of P.W. 3 in regard to the fact that P.W. 1 was a casual servant or the errand boy as the learned Judge describes him, of the deceased.
Evidence with regard to item 1 was given by P.W. 21, Superintendent of Finger Print Bureau, and P.W. 22, a photographer.
Thus, A 1 and P.W. 1, both, had a motive to do away with the deceased and to rob his valuables.
Accordingly, at 7 15 p. m., A 1 and A. 2 joined the approver at a distance of one furlong from the house of the deceased.
The promissory numbere, dated August 25, 1969, for.
A 1 was then taken to the Police Station where the Dhoti, M. O. 11, was removed from his person as per Memo Ex.
He further informed A 1 that the deceased had in his house the sale proceeds of ,25 Kothahs 50 bags of paddy.
On May 14, 1971, the Police Sub Inspector moved the Sub Magistrate Nanguneri, P.W. 9, for recording the company fession of Narayanan who was then in jail.
as to how he had found the deceased missing and the house locked.
All the three then went to the house of the deceased and watched the deceased who was then engrossed in reading a newspaper.
It was attached as per Exh.
He also stated that he had made the companyfession before the Sub Magistrate.
After waiting in vain outside the house for the deceased, they went back to their village at 8 p.m. P.W. 5, a village Munsill, also, on that day April 13, 1.97.1 in the evening, came to the house for companylecting Kist in respect of the deceaseds lands in Thiruthu village.
A 1 and the approver knew that according to his routine, the deceased would soon go out to take his dinner.
P 2, of the deceased relating to the year 1970, on the wooden bureau.
P.W. 14 number only proved the execution of this numbere but also the fact that the deceased had got it executed in companysideration of the value of the articles stolen by A 1.
A 2 thereupon gave the gold ring, M. O. 5, to A 1.
His only child, a daughter, Balmani, was married to Packiam, P.W. 3, a resident of village Therku Medu, The deceased lived alone in his house in South Car Street, Tirunelveli Town.
Narayanan made a companyfessional statement which was recorded.
12, 13 and 27 with regard to the recover of this ring fully trustworthy.
The High Court of Madras dismissed their appeals, upheld their companyvictions and companyfirmed their sentences.
There are companycurrent findings of the companyrts below that the approver is reliable, and that his testimony has been sufficiently companyroborated by the other evidence qua each of the appellants.
It is in the evidence of P.W. 7 that some weeks before the occurrence, the deceased had received 75 kotahs of paddy from the cultivators of his lands.
He called and examined 11 out of those 36 persons mentioned in the diaries.
P 3 indicates that the deceased suspected the hand of A 1 in the theft of his table fan.
As companycurrently found by the companyrts below, A 2, had, in the beginning of April 1971, borrowed Rs.
He indicated all the facta observed by him.
On this point, the companyrts have inter alia relied upon the evidence of F. Ws.
The Inspector, accompanied by the Sub Inspector, reached the scene house at 9 45 a. m. and started investigation.
2 for short, A 2 was companyvicted under Section 302, Penal Code.
A 2 removed this watch, also.
He sold that paddy at the rate of Rs.
The story narrated by the approver at the trial was, as follows A 1, A 2 and the approver are, all, residents of Tirunelveli Town and were known to each other.
The approver stealthily followed the deceased into the house and companycealed himself behind a bureau.
After about 15 minutes, the deceased went inside the house, placed the newspaper near the Kali Pooja Room and proceeded further to the well inside for a wash.
He Saw the dead body in the third room, blood on the floor, and marks of dragging over a length of about 6 ft.
The deceased was a widower.
The approver further stated how he had pledged the watch with Srirangam P.W. and how he had, alter his arrest, got it recovered.
A 2 was arrested by P.W. 27 on May 22, 1971 from Koilpatti Bus Stand in the presence of P.W. 26.
Entries dated, March 9, 1971 and March 20, 1971, in the diary, Exh.
He owned lands in the revenue estates of Kodikulam and Thiruthu, situate at a distance of a few miles from Tirunelveli town.
A 1 was arrested by P.W. 27, at the Bus Stop near Rastha village on May 2, 1971.
The prosecution case further is that about two days after the murder, on April 17, 1971, A 1 pledged the ring, M. O. 5, with P.W. 12 for Rs.
The big and small safes in the scene room were opened on May 8, 1971 at 11 a. m. with the aid of the keys in the bunch M. O. 4 in the presence of P. Ws.
One of them was A 1 with whom the deceased had an intimate companynection.
Even after the termination of his employment, A 1 companytinued to visit the house of the deceased.
3, 4, 6 and the daughter of the deceased.
About three months before the occurrence, the approver became a casual servant of the deceased on an ad hoc basis.
During that period, he stole away several articles on various occasions.
Appellant No.
After washing his hands and legs, the deceased went out locking the front door of the house.
S. Sarkaria, J. The appellants were tried by the Sessions Judge, Tiranelvelj Division for the murder of Mutbiah Pillai, an Ex Member of Parliament and retired Lecturer of a College.
The deceased suspected that the theft had been companymitted again by A 1.
They support the prosecution story that A 2 1 was number only a domestic servant of the deceased but also had homosexual relations with him.
A 1 then opened the big iron safe and took out three bundles of currency numberes and passed them on to A 2 who put them in a white cloth bag.
He further told A 1 how the deceased had threatened civil and criminal action against A 1.
All the three then hid themselves behind the three big bureaus in the bed room.
He then prepared the inquest report, Ex.
30/ , and later, on 2 5 1971, it was recovered by the Police Sub Inspector P.W. 27 in the presence of P, W. 13, from P.W. 12, pursuant to the information and the lead given by A 1.
The approver passed on this information to A 1 on April 15, 197,1, as he was afraid that initiation of proceedings before the police would expose him as the thief.
Next did the approver.
The trial companyrt believed the testimony of P.W. 27 and P.W. 28 that what was open on 22 4 1971 was number the iron safe in the scene room but the iron bureau kept in the fourth room behind the scene room.
Injuries 2 to 7 were individually and cumulatively sufficient to cause death in the ordinary companyrse of nature.
After a futile wait for the deceased to turn up, he went away at 9 p. m. On April 17, 1971, in the even .
P 3, speak of Narayanan approver .
A 1 placed a towel on the mouth of the deceased.
They broke it open.
That on April 17, 1971 at about 9 m., A 1 pledged this gold ring M. O. 5 with P.W. 12 for Rs.
A 1 immediately companyered his face with a piece of cloth.
After making a companyfessional statement, A 1, whilst in custody, led P.W. 27, in the presence of P.W. 13, to the house of P. W, 12.
Item 4 is the most telling circumstance that unerringly companynects A 1 with the companymission of the crime in question.
He examined the entries in the diaries, from which he came to know that the deceased had association with 36 persons mentioned therein.
A 2 then removed the blood stained dhoti, the bunch of keys M. O. 4 and the gold rings, M. O. 5 and M. O. 6, from the body of the deceased.
He used to wear two gold rings, M. O. 5 and M. O. 6, and the wrist watch, M. O. 7.
The deceased woke up.
On the morning of April 18, 1971, P. Ws.
Murder was companymitted about five months and five days after that date, The subsequent entries in the diaries show that A 1 companytinued to visit companyertly or overtly the house of the deceased.
In the third room lay the dead body of the deceased wrapped in a carpet and its legs tied with a rope.
Similarly, when the approver expressed dissatisfaction at the amount of the money given to him, A 2 gave the watch, M. O. 7, to him.
He took it into possession as per memo, Ex.
The entrance door of the third room was lying locked.
The deceased used to keep his cash in the big iron safe which was lying in the scene room.
Those prints were photographed.
