The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has set aside the conviction and life sentence imposed by a trial court in Tiruchi on three persons accused of murdering a woman in 2013 as ‘the prosecution had tried to mix and match bits and pieces of available evidence and made a mess of it’.
The court was hearing a criminal appeal preferred by R. Marimuthu alias Suresh alias Kozhi Suresh, Shobana alias Sathya and Saravanan alias Renganathan against the judgment of the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Tiruchi. The trial court had sentenced them to life imprisonment in 2019.
The case of the prosecution is that the deceased, Sasikala, was from Tirumayam in Pudukkottai district. She was staying with her maternal aunt after she lost her mother at a young age. It was said that on December 14, 2013, Sasikala left her home along with her friend Sathiya and two of her acquaintances, Saravanan and Suresh. She did not return home. Later, her decapitated body was found in Tiruchi district. It was said that Sasikala was killed following a heated argument.
A Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and R. Hemalatha observed that the prosecution had made an extensive investigation without knowing where it started and where it ended. Sasikala went missing on December 14, 2013 in Pudukkottai district, while the body was recovered on December 18, 2013 in Tiruchi district. The sequence of events was not very clear and the motive for murder as put up by the prosecution was flimsy, the judges observed.
The judges said instead of focussing on the real issue and investigation more voluminous work had been done to present a theory which was shabby and ill-conceived, and set aside the conviction and the sentence imposed by the trial court.
