New Mahe Double Murder Case: Kerala Court Acquits 14 CPI(M) Workers For Alleged Murder Of BJP/RSS Workers

They were accused of the offences under Sections 143 [Punishment for unlawful assembly], 147 [Punishment for rioting], 148 [Rioting armed with deadly weapon], 341 [Punishment for wrongful restraint], 435 [Mischief by fire or explosive substance], 120B [Punishment of criminal conspiracy], 201 [Causing disappearance of evidence], 109 [Punishment of abetment] and 302 [Punishment for murder] read with Section 149 [Unlawful assembly] of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act.

The prosecution case was that the accused entered into a conspiracy to murder the deceased persons, intercepted them armed with deadly weapons after they left the Mahe Court and thereafter, cut Vijith's hand with a sword and threw a bomb at their motorcycle, which caught fire and killed the deceased. Thereafter, the accused escaped in their vehicle and destroyed their blood-stained clothes.

Smt. Ruby K. Jose, Addl. Sessions Judge – III, passed the judgment of acquittal after finding that there were material contradictions in the oral testimonies, doubt regarding the place of occurrence and deficiencies in investigation.

The Court noted that there were omissions in the First Information Statement, which had come out in cross-examination. It opined that the version of PW2, the prime witness in this case, was unreliable since there were material contradictions with respect to the place of occurrence of the crime, the attribution of criminal action on the accused persons, the naming of the accused persons in the FIS and later, while giving oral evidence.

It observed: “In such circumstances, the testimony of PW2 cannot be safely relied upon to establish the culpability of the accused persons. These material contradictions cannot be dismissed as trivial discrepancies. This Court finds that the testimony of PW2 lacks credibility, particularly given the significant contradictions between his initial statements and his later testimony.”

It went to appreciate the oral testimonies by the other witnesses, separately and jointly, and found that there were material improvements and inconsistencies.

Further, it also remarked that there were defensive wounds on the victims, which establish that they tried to defend themselves against attack. After examining the evidence on record regarding the wounds sustained by the victims, the Court observed that these were in the nature of “a calculated, deliberate and premeditated homicidal attack carried out with lethal sharp-edged weapons and explosive devices.”

Thereafter, the Court went on to look into the oral evidence rendered in the case. It found that there were improvements in the deposition made by the prime witness, PW2 and a material omission.

As per the oral evidence, the bomb was hurled at the victims while on the road but as per the forensic evidence, remnants were collected from the goat farm compound. Thus, the Court noted that the two do not corroborate.

“In the result, the accused Nos. 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 16 are acquitted of the aforesaid offences under Section 235(1) Cr.PC. They shall be set at liberty forthwith and the bail bonds executed by them stand cancelled. The material objects produced and identified during the course of the trial shall be disposed of in accordance with the law. Accused Nos. 10 and 12 no more and charge against them stood abated,” remarked the judge.

Thus, the Court acquitted the 14 accused.

Case No: Sessions Case No. 525 of 2013

Case Title: State v. Sujith T. and Ors.

Counsel for the accused: C.K. Sreedharan, K.Viswan

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