[In the Madras High Court on July 14, 1919, before Sadasiva Iyer and Burn J.J.] Dr. Swaminathan with Mr. S. Ranganatha Aiyar argued a referred trial and criminal appeal from the conviction and sentence of death passed by the Sessions Judge of Ramnad on Tharasayya Thevan and four others for the murder of S.P. Allapitchai Rowther, a wealthy merchant of Pudumadam, Ramnad district, and a member of the Taluk Board. The prosecution case was that the deceased was going from Pudumadam to catch the Rameswaram Express at Butchupatti Railway Station when the accused waylaid him, from his dog cart, took him to the Railway line, beat him and tied him to the rails and cut his neck with a bill hook. Very soon the train passed over his body and cut it to pieces. The motive alleged was that the deceased in execution of a decree against the accused attached all their properties and started criminal proceedings against them alleging that a forged document had been filed by the accused in the course of the suit. Mr. E.R. Osborne appeared in support of the conviction. Their Lordships acquitted the fifth accused as there was not sufficient evidence to justify his conviction and confirmed the conviction of the first four accused.
