The Madras High Court Bench here has confirmed the life sentence awarded to a former employee of Ramco Cements in Virudhunagar district for hacking to death the company’s Deputy General Manager (DGM) on April 12, 2012.
Dismissing a criminal appeal filed by the convict Ganeshan, a Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and V.S. Ravi also confirmed seven years of rigorous imprisonment imposed on him by a Sessions Court for attempting to murder the DGM Rajarajeswaran’s wife R. Anandhi.
The judges agreed with Additional Public Prosecutor C. Ramesh that there was no necessity to interfere with the verdict passed by the trial court on July 25, 2013, since the Vachakarapatti police had proved the nexus between the accused and the crime through clear and cogent evidences.
Writing the judgment for the Bench, Mr. Justice Ravi pointed out that the convict, who was employed as a fitter, had murdered the DGM at the company-provided residential quarters for having initiated disciplinary action against him.
He had attacked the DGM’s wife too with the machete when she attempted to prevent him from assaulting her husband.
It was she who had lodged the police complaint and identified the accused during a parade conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate.
The prosecution had examined as many as 27 witnesses, including a co-worker who had rushed to the victim’s residence on hearing the noise and saw the accused flee from the place, and a time keeper who had noted down the registration number of a two-wheeler in which the assailant fled away.
It had also recovered blood stained clothes of the accused from the residence of another colleague and even proved through sufficient materials that there was power supply at the victim’s residence at the time of the occurrence for his wife to very clearly see the assailant.
“On a cumulative consideration of the evidences and also exhibits and material objects, it is found that the prosecution has established the allegation made against the appellant by producing reliable, trustworthy and credible witnesses, documents and materials on record,” the Bench concluded.
‘The convict, who was employed as a fitter, had murdered the DGM at the residential quarters’
