[Cites 1, Cited by 0]
Madras High Court
P.Jeevanandham vs Mariyappan on 20 January, 2026
Author: P.Velmurugan
Bench: P.Velmurugan
CRL A No.449 of 2019
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 20-01-2026
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE P.VELMURUGAN
AND
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.JOTHIRAMAN
CRL A No.449 of 2019
P.Jeevanandham
S/o.Panneerselvam
Thandanthoppu, Thirumeeyachur Post
Nannilam Taluk, Thiruvarur District
Appellant
Vs
1. Mariyappan
S/o.Amasi
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
2. Saminathan
S/o. Murugan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
3. Pandiyan
S/o.Veerasamy
Theradi Street, Thirumeichur
4. Madhavan
S/o.Veerasamy
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
5. Sugumaran
S/o.Veerasamy
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
1
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
Thiruvarur District
6. Elayaraja
S/o.Veerasamy
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
7. Kannan
S/o.Nadesan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
8. Sarathbabu
S/o.Nadesan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
9. Senthil
S/o.Saminathan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
10. Bharani
S/o.Mariyappan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
11. Karnan
S/o.Murugan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
12. Panneerselvam
S/o.Duraisamy
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
13. Uthirapathi
S/o. Sittu
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
14. Sundaramoorthy
S/o.Rasu
2
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
15. Selvamani
S/o.Ramasamy
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
16. Natarajan
S/o.Ganapathi
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
17. Ayyapillai
S/o.Ramasamy
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
18. Gunasekaran
S/o.Ganapathi
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
19. Nadesan
S/o.Govindasamy
Vadapathi, Thirumeichur
20. Vadivelu
S/o.Mahalingam
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
21. Ramadurai
S/o.Meganathan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
22. Kannan
S/o.Murugesan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
23. Vijayathiran
S/o.Santhanam
3
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
24. Senthil
S/o. Kanniyan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
25. Vairavelu
S/o.Mahalingam
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
26.Nanmaran
S/o. Anbalagan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
27. Anbalagan
S/o. Murugaiyan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
28. Murugesan
S/o. Rajamanickam
Theradi Street, Thirumeichur.
29. Nerandiran
S/o.Veeramani
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
30. Jeeva
S/o.Kaliyaperumal
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
31. Dhamodaran
S/o.Mahalingam
Thendanthoppu, Thirumeeyachur Post
Thiruvarur District.
32. Ashokraj
4
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
S/o.Kaliyaperumal
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
33. Shankar
S/o. Munusamy
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
34. Lenin
S/o. Rengaiyan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
35. Rajagopal
S/o. Samykannu
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
36. Singaravelu
S/o. Rangiyan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
37. Umanath
S/o.Nagaraj
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
38. Madhavan
S/o. Anbalagan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
39. Ravi
S/o.Nadesan
Thenpathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
40. Baskar
S/o.Appusamy
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
5
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
41. Kanniyan
S/o. Kasi
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
42. Jayaraman
S/o. Manickam
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
43. Ravi
S/o.Kaliappan
Sivaraman Colony, Thandanthoppu
Thirumeeyachur, Thiruvarur District
44. Nadarajan
S/o.Rangiyan
Thenpathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
45. Elanthendral
S/o.Masilamani
Vallankili, Thiruvarur District
46. Manokar
S/o.Jaganathan
Mella Street, Peralam
Thiruvarur District
47. Guna
S/o. Krishnamoorthy
New Street, Peralam
Thiruvarur District
48. Mooventhan
S/o. Kalyana Sundaram
Thenpathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvrur District
49. Jothipasu
S/o. Krishnan
Vadapathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
6
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
50. Rajaguru
S/o. Kanniyan
Vadapathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
51. Ramesh
S/o. Ranganathan
Vadapathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
52. Senthil
S/o. Ramasamy
Vadapathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
53. Sekar
S/o.Pitchai
Vadapathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
54. Suresh
S/o. Paneerselvam
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
55. Mahendiran
S/o.Kanniyan
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
56. Sudharsan
S/o.Pannerselvam
Kattalai Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
57. Karthi
S/o.Kaliyan
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
58. Balu
S/o.Ganapathi
7
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
Theradi Street, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
59. Mahalingam
S/o.Kattaliappan
Thenpathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
60. Raja
S/o. Balu
Akilampettai, Thiruvarur District
61. Stalin
S/o.Thangarasu
Chithambur, Thiruvarur District
62. Kalaivanan
S/o.Alagiri
Vallur, Thiruvarur District
63. Rajini
S/o.Jayaraj
Nadungulam, Sangamangalam
Thiruvarur District
64. Raja @ Kodantharaman
S/o.Munusamy
Kothankudi, Thiruvarur District
65. Vijayan
S/o. Krishnamoorthy
Pandaravadai, Thiruvarur District
66. Padaleswaran
S/o. Anbalagan
Vadapathi, Thirumeeyachur
Thiruvarur District
67. Kolizmuthai @ Chandrasekar
S/o. Chithiran
Ennakudi, Thiruvarur District
68. Raji @ Rajivgandhi
S/o. Yuvaraj
8
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CRL A No.449 of 2019
Kambur, Thiruvarur District
69. State of Tamil Nadu rep.by the
Deputy Superintendent of Police
Peralam Police Station
Thiruvarur District
(Cr.No.348 of 2010)
Respondents
Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Appeal filed under Section 372 of
Cr.P.C against the judgment of acquittal passed by the learned District &
Sessions Judge, Thiruvarur in S.C.No.63 of 2013 dated 12.04.2017.
For Appellant: Mr.R.Chakkaravarthy
For Respondents: Mr.J.Thilagaraj
ForR14,39,46,50,54,55,57,60,61,
63 and R1 to R12,
R15 to R38, R40 to R42, R44,
R47,48,51,52,53,56,58,59 and
62,64,65
Mr.R.Thamaraiselvan for R66
No appearance for R68
Mr.A.Damodran
Additional Public Prosecutor
for R69
Disd. as abated against R13, 43,
45, 49 and 67
JUDGMENT
(Judgment of the Court was made by P.Velmurugan J.)
This criminal appeal has been filed by the victim against the judgment of
acquittal passed by the learned District and Sessions Judge, Thiruvarur in
S.C.No.63 of 2013 dated 12.04.2017 acquitting the respondents/accused of all
the charges, for the reasons stated therein.
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2. Heard the respective learned counsel appearing for the parties and
perused the materials available on record.
3. The main contention of the appellant is that the prosecution did not
examine the eye-witnesses who had seen the occurrence and the judgment of the
trial Court in paragraphs 19 & 20 would clearly state that the eye-witnesses,
namely, Jeevanantham, Raj @ Gunduraj, Rajbabu, Selvam, Arun, Gunasekaran,
Murugesan, Selvam and Selvi had died and even one of the witnesses, who was
examined as PW2, has stated that he did not see the occurrence and turned
hostile. But, however, the learned counsel for appellant pointed out that the
observations made by the trial Court in paragraphs 19 & 20 are perverse, since
majority of the eye-witnesses are still alive and therefore the judgment of the
trial Court is liable to be set aside and the matter is to be remanded back to the
trial Court for fresh trial.
4. In order to ascertain the fact as to whether the witnesses mentioned in
paragraphs 19 & 20 of the judgment of the trial Court are still alive, this Court,
by order dated 07.01.2026, directed the 69 th respondent Police to file a report
regarding the witnesses who are still alive and the witnesses who had died.
Today the learned Additional Public Prosecutor has filed the report of the
Investigating Officer stating that out of 28 witnesses, 19 witnesses are alive and
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only 9 witnesses had died.
5. A perusal of the judgment of the trial Court clearly shows that in
paragraph-19, the trial Court has rendered a finding that all the 9 witnesses
named therein had died, whereas the report of the Investigating Officer reveals
that only 3 witnesses, namely, Selvam, Gunasekaran & Murugesan had died and
the remaining 6 witnesses are still alive. Similarly, in paragraph-20, the trial
Court has rendered a finding that all the 19 witnesses named therein had died,
whereas the report of the Investigating Officer reveals that only 6 witnesses,
namely, Panchavarnam, Perumal, Vijaya, Mayandi, Kulothungan &
Subramaniyan had died and the remaining 13 witnesses are still alive. In view
of the perverse finding rendered by the trial Court, without going into the
merits, the judgment passed by the learned District & Sessions Judge,
Thiruvarur in S.C.No.63 of 2013 dated 12.04.2017 is set aside and the matter is
remanded back to the trial Court for fresh disposal. The learned trial Judge is
directed to issue summons to all the witnesses who are all alive and conduct a
fresh trial. Since the case in Crime No.348 of 2010 had been registered for the
cause of action that arose on 08.09.2010, the learned trial Judge shall give
priority and dispose of the case on its own merits and in accordance with law,
within a period of three months. Both the parties are directed to extend their
cooperation for completion of the trial as early as possible.
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6. With the above direction, this criminal appeal stands disposed of.
(P.VELMURUGAN J.) (M.JOTHIRAMAN J.)
20-01-2026
Index:Yes/No
Speaking/Non-speaking order
Internet:Yes
Neutral Citation:Yes/No
ss
To
1. The District & Sessions Judge
Thiruvarur
2. The Deputy Superintendent of Police
Peralam Police Station,
Thiruvarur District.
3. The Public Prosecutor
High Court, Madras
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P.VELMURUGAN J.
AND
M.JOTHIRAMAN J.
ss
20-01-2026
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