HC acquits six in 2015 Trichy advocate murder case, cites unreliable evidence

Madurai: The Madras high court has acquitted six people who were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in connection with the 2015 murder of an advocate in Trichy district.The division bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh and Justice K K Ramakrishnan allowed criminal appeals filed by Johnson Kumar, Natarajan, Kanagaraj, Harikrishnan, Senthil and Ilayaraja, challenging their conviction by the second additional district and sessions court. According to the prosecution, advocate Sekar was hacked to death by a gang in front of his office in Samayapuram on Dec 16, 2015, around 8.50pm. Sekar, a former president of the Madakudi village panchayat, was allegedly targeted in retaliation for the earlier murder of Ambikapathy, who was said to have played a role in Sekar's defeat in the 2011 local body elections. Police registered a case based on a complaint filed by Sekar's wife, who witnessed the incident. During the trial, the main accused Kumar and another accused, Raja, died. In 2023, the trial court convicted six people and acquitted four others. Setting aside the conviction, the high court found serious flaws in the prosecution's case. A division bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh and Justice K K Ramakrishnan observed that the deceased's wife did not know any of the accused except the first accused, Kumar, and identified the others in court after seven years without a test identification parade. "Prudence dictates that such identification can never be free from doubt," the bench observed. The court also pointed out that despite the presence of several shops near the crime scene, the investigating officer failed to examine any independent witnesses. It held that the testimonies of witnesses were "wholly unreliable" and appeared to have been created to support the prosecution's case. "The prosecution has not established even the charge of conspiracy against any of the accused," the judges said. Concluding that the case was not proved beyond reasonable doubt, the bench said, "the benefit of doubt has to go in favour of the appellants," and acquitted them of all charges. MSID:: 129867314 413 |