In a bizarre case of kidnap in which a Sessions Court failed to conduct speedy trial, crucial evidence submitted to the court was lost and could not be traced even after a decade, the Madras High Court passed on the benefit of the delay to the accused and reduced the life term awarded to them to five years rigorous imprisonment.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and V. Bharathidasan directed the Registry of the high court to hold a thorough inquiry into the incident to find out how valuable evidence disappeared and to take appropriate action.
Kidnapped for ransom
According to the prosecution, on October 18, 2002 B. Viswanathan, Selvam, and Bagavathi kidnapped an 8-year-old girl child for a ransom of Rs two lakh.
Subsequently, the three kidnappers were nabbed and a compact disc containing the telephone calls and conversations of demanding the ransom was recovered by the police.
A case under section 364 (A) (Kidnapping for ransom) read with 34 of IPC was registered against all the three accused.
