During the investigation of the said case, on 24.10.2001, the accused brought the deceased, PW1 and her family members to Tirunelveli.
Based on Accused No.
Subsequently, after spending the night at Hotel Ariyas at Tirunelveli, PW1 and her family, along with Accused Nos.
On the way, upon the signal of Accused No.
TN 10 M 7755 M.O.4 belonging to Accused No.
Accused No.
The body had a bluecoloured checked fullsleeved shirt and sandalcoloured pant with a blackcoloured belt.
She also admitted in the crossexamination that her mother had informed her that if she married Accused No.1, he would set up a business for their family and also pay them Rs.
Accused No.1 made several failed attempts with the help of the other accused to sever the relationship between PW1 and her husband.
P42 with regard to the discovery of the unidentified dead body.
5 and 8.
2 to 4, 6 and 7 forcibly took away Santhakumar by separating him from his wife, companymitted his murder and threw away his body at the TigerChola forest area within the jurisdiction of Kodaikanal Police Station.
9, with Accused Nos.
On 26.10.2001, at about 6.30 a.m., Accused No.
After exhumation, the body was also identified by PWs 1 and 2 through a scar mark still visible on the waist.
1 is the proprietor of a chain of hotels Saravana Bhavan .
3 and 4, armed with knives, got out of one of the cars and forced PW1 and her husband to board the car of the accused in which Accused No.5 was sitting, and took them to Chengalpattu.
1 made PW1 and her husband get into his Tata Sumo Registration No.
Even the number of accused involved in the incidents is different.
9 along with himself and Accused Nos.
559 of 2001, recording the finding of an unidentified body and its unnatural death.
On 24.10.2001, they took the companyple to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police to withdraw the companyplaint relating to the incident of abduction which had been lodged earlier that month, and also made them sign a few blank papers.
Once when she was ill, under the pretext of better treatment as advised by another doctor, Accused No.
PW27 has reaffirmed what has been stated by PW26 and has deposed that the dead body was taken to the hospital by the police for autopsy.
Same is the case with the other appellants.
On 01.10.2001, PW1 and her husband were abducted by Accused No.1 and his henchmen including the appellants herein , for which a separate companyplaint Ext.
Thus, she was hopeful that her husband would escape on this occasion as well.
As PW1 resisted, Accused Nos.
On 19.10.2001, PW1 was taken to PW9 by Accused Nos.5 and 8 at Parappadi village, to remove the alleged influence of witchcraft black magic which was allegedly the cause of her being in love with Santhakumar.
Subsequently, on 21.10.2001, both of them approached Accused No.1 to seek his mercy, thus revealing that Santhakumar was still alive.
TN 10 M 7755 belonging to Accused No.
Accused Nos.
5 came to the room in which PW1 and her family members were staying in Tirunelveli and informed them that Accused No.1 had instructed Santhakumar to be brought to him.
5 lakhs by Accused No.1 to kill him, but Accused No.
3 and 4 forcibly took PW1 to the Benz car, and she was taken to Tiruchirappalli in the said car.
Some of the accused therein were companyvicted.
The material facts leading to these appeals are as under Accused No.
She also identified his personal belongings that were recovered from Accused No.6.
P42, at Kodaikanal Police Station, which was registered as C.R. No.
PW1 has also deposed about the identification of the clothes worn by the deceased at the time of leaving her companypany, on which basis she identified the clothes on the discovered dead body to be those of Santhakumars.
At the said place, an employee of Accused No.1, Janarthanam came and informed PW1 that her husband had escaped the clutches of the henchmen of Accused No.1 and his whereabouts were unknown.
Later, much to her shock, PW1 learnt that these rituals were traditionally companyducted by the wife after the death of her husband.
After two days, Santhakumar spoke to PW1 over a phone call and stated that Accused No.
In a further bid to gain PW1s love and affection, he frequently interfered in her personal matters.
TN 10 M 7755 driven by Accused No.
2 had let him go unharmed out of sympathy, and had asked him to escape to Mumbai and companytact him from there after fifteen days.
Unwilling to send him alone, PW1 also went along with Santhakumar and Accused No.5.
TN 09 Q 1310 M.O.3 came and halted behind the car in which PW1 and her husband were sitting.
During the companyrse of investigation, the procedure of superimposition of the face of the deceased was done by PW34, Dr. Jayaprakash, after which the dead body was companycluded to be that of Santhakumar.
Accused No.
While PW1 was staying at her mothers house at Velachery, Accused Nos.
The present crime came to be companymitted on 26.10.2001, whereby PW1 and her husband, Santhakumar were taken away in a car, and on the direction of Accused No.1, Accused Nos.
The motive put forth by the prosecution for the companymission of the offence is that Accused No.1 wanted to take PW1 as his third wife despite knowing that she was already married to the deceased Santhakumar.
On the same day, Accused Nos.
5, Accused Nos.
The Tata Sumo M.O. 3 driven by Accused No.
Also, importantly, in the first incident being the incident of abduction, i.e. Crime No.
Therefore, upon growing gravely suspicious, she lodged the first information on 20.11.2001 stating that Accused No.1 and his henchmen had murdered her husband, and the same was registered as Crime No.1047 of 2001.
7 took Santhakumar along with the said accused towards Dindigul.
The postmortem was companyducted on 01.11.2001 by PW35 and thereafter, as the body remained unidentified, it was buried in the Hindu burial ground of the Kodaikanal Municipality by PW33, Anithalai, in the presence of PW32, Head Constable Sebastian.
2s companyfession that he and the other accused had killed the victim and thrown the dead body in the forest area of TigerChola near a curve on the road, the investigation team proceeded to that place, and it was eventually determined that the dead body found by the forest officials was that of Santhakumar.
P3 was lodged by PW1 and a separate trial was companyducted.
2 to 4 and 6 and ordered them to finish him off.
TN 09 T 3224 M.O.1 and TN 22 5202 M.O.2 , and a Tata Sumo vehicle bearing Registration No.
2 to 4 and 6 alighted therefrom.
On seeing the dead body, PW27 lodged the first information, Ext.
In the meanwhile, i.e. on 31.10.2001, prior to the lodging of the FIR, one forester by name Raman and Forest Guard Murugusen PW26 and 27 respectively of the Kodaikanal Range discovered the dead body of a male near the TigerChola forest area.
2 had told him about being given Rs.
2, 4 and 6 got down from a vehicle M.O. 3 which had been following behind, and took away the deceased.
The deceased Santhakumar was instructed to get himself tested for AIDS and other such diseases, which he refused outright.
Charges were framed under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code hereinafter referred to as the IPC including Sections 302, 364 and 201, and the trial was companyducted.
P45 and panchnama of the dead body Ext.
Separate appeals were also filed against the judgment of companyviction for the incident of abduction.
5, 8 and other henchmen of Accused No.1 kept a companystant vigil over the movements of PW1 and her family.
The preburial photographs of the dead body clicked by the Kodaikanal Police O. 11, 12, 13, 14 as well as the apparel found on the body of the deceased M.O. 5, 6 and 8 were identified as Santhakumars by PW1 and her family, as well as by some of the accused.
PW29, the SubInspector of Police of Kodaikanal Police Station, has deposed that on 31.10.2001, PWs 26 and 27 lodged the companyplaint which came to be registered on the same day.
She has deposed about the exhumation of the dead body and her identification of the dead body based on the scar on the left side of her husbands waist.
1030 of 2001 , her husband had been spared by Accused No.
Upon reaching the Karai Illupu culvert, and upon a signal by Accused No.
After seeing the dead body, PW26 and PW27 went to the Kodaikanal Police Station and lodged the first information Ext.
Later on the same day, when Accused No.2 told Accused No.1 a false story about how he and the other accused had killed Santhakumar and destroyed the evidence, on Accused No.1s cue, Santhakumar and PW1 entered the room, much to the shock of Accused No.2.
Evidently, the time and place of occurrence of the two incidents are different.
5 and 6 took Santhakumar, PW1 and her family members in a Tata Sumo bearing Registration No.
1 forcefully shifted her to another hospital, where he advised her number to have sexual relations with her husband and made her undergo a series of tests.
He pushed Santhakumar down and handed him over to Accused Nos.
TN 10 M 7755 .
Thereafter, PW29 along with other personnel went to the companycerned spot at TigerChola, and saw the dead body of a male aged about 30 years wearing the aforementioned clothes.
3 and 4.
She has meticulously deposed about the role of each of the appellants in the crime.
However, Santhakumar returned to PW1 upon her request.
Accused No.
In order to fulfil his desire, Accused No.1 used to financially help PW1, her family members and her husband.
Soon after, two Ambassador cars bearing Registration Nos.
From there, she was taken to Veppankulam village to seek the advise of an astrologer PW8 .
1, again to remove the influence of black magic on PW1, after which they reached Tirunelveli.
Disgraced and feeling betrayed, Accused No.2 started assaulting Santhakumar, and was joined by Accused Nos.
1, who made PW1 and the deceased get into the vehicle bearing Registration No.
Thereafter, the police came to the spot along with a camera and took photographs of the dead body.
Thereafter, the dead body was sent to the government hospital for postmortem examination.
1 and his henchmen and companyld only free herself after 06.11.2011.
1 arrived with the parents of PW1 along with Accused No.1.
The Courts, relying on the evidence of the doctors PWs 35 and 38, who companyducted the two postmortem examinations, companycluded that the death was homicidal in nature, as the cause of death was found to be asphyxia due to throttling.
He used to talk to PW1 over the phone frequently, and also gave her companytly gifts such as jewellery and silk sarees and even went to the extent of paying her medical bills.
Accused No.1 got out and grabbed Santhakumar by the companylar, dragging him out.
Since the body was unidentified and numberrelatives companyld be found, he asked Head Constable Sebastian PW32 to bury the body in the municipality burial ground.
1, 5, 6 and 8 returned to Chennai by train.
Thereafter, PW1 was forcibly taken back by Accused No.1 and later was made to undergo different rituals, which made her suspect the murder of her husband and led her to lodge a companyplaint regarding the same.
Thereafter, PW2, the mother of PW1, informed PW1 that Accused No.1 was in the said Benz car, and wanted PW1 to leave her husband and meet Accused No.1 in the car.
At about 8.30 p.m. on the same night, a Mercedes Benz bearing Registration No.
This vehicle, being driven by Accused No.
Thereafter, at the instance of Accused No.1, PW1 and her family members were taken to an astrologer by the name of Ravi PW4 , and later, she was made to undergo certain rituals, companyducted by one Raghunatha Iyer, in the presence of the second wife of Accused No.1 at K.K. Nagar.
1, and on a subsequent occasion also, he had been spared by Accused No.
5 and 8, PW1 and Santhakumar seated within, was followed by another Tata Sumo M.O.3 .
In the crossexamination, she has also explained the delay in lodging the first information by deposing that she companyld number file the companyplaint before 20.11.2001 though her husband was abducted on 26.10.2001 because she was under the companystant surveillance of Accused No.
5, the other vehicle stopped, and Accused Nos.
On 18.10.2001, PW1 as well as her husband went to the Sai Baba temple as instructed by Accused No.
Either upon the advice of an astrologer or having become besotted with PW1, Accused No.1 had evinced a keen desire to take PW1 as his third wife, though she was already married to Santhakumar the deceased .
1 and the other accused took PW1 back, and later brought her and her family back to Chennai.
He took the photographs of the dead body from all angles and prepared the observation mahazar Ext.
The dead body was exhumed by PW33 and two others, and was sent for a second postmortem, which was companyducted by PW38.
1 further instructed these accused to finish him off, definitely intending to instruct them to kill the deceased.
MOHAN M. SHANTANAGOUDAR, J. Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by VISHAL ANAND The judgment dated 19.03.2009 passed in Criminal Appeal Date 2019.03.29 162308 IST Reason No.
637 and 748 of 2004 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras whereby the High Court companyvicted the accused appellants for the abduction and murder of one Santhakumar, husband of the companyplainant Jeevajothi PW1 , is called into question in these appeals.
Ultimately, Accused No.1 companymitted the offence in question in order to eliminate the deceased so as to be able to marry PW1 without any obstruction.
Meanwhile, the accused had surrendered and companyfessed to the companymission of Santhakumars murder.
