The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday confirmed life sentence imposed on a man from Thoothukudi district for murder. In 2010, M. Muthuvel hacked M. Thangavel to death over a property dispute.
The convict, Muthuvel attacked Thangavel with a billhook causing his death. When Palaniraj, son of Thangavel tried to intervene to save his father, Muthuvel criminally intimidated him. In 2011, the II Additional Sessions Judge, Thoothukudi sentenced him to life imprisonment.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Vaidyanathan and G. Jayachandran confirmed the sentence and dismissed the appeal filed by Muthuvel. The court took note of the fact that the accused and the deceased had previous enmity over a land
The two had previous enmity over a land owned by one Mookammal. It was being cultivated by Thangavel. It is said that Muthuvel had acted as a broker and arranged for the sale of the property to Kamatchi alias Gandhi.
Kamatchi tried to evict Thangavel from the land. However, Thangavel refused to vacate and claimed his right over the property. Later, Muthuvel attacked Thangavel with a billhook near a library and caused his death.
The court took note of the confession statement given by Muthuvel. Muthuvel said that even after the sale of the property Thangavel was using the property. He feared that Thangavel would kill him. Therefore, he attacked Thangavel, he said.
The court held that it was a case of culpable homicide amounting to murder and the charge for the offence punishable under Section 302 (Murder) of IPC was well proved. Therefore, the life imprisonment is confirmed, the judges said.
The appellant who was enjoying suspension of sentence was directed to surrender before the trial court within three weeks failing which the police shall secure him and produce him before the trial court for committing him to prison to undergo the life sentence.
