The Madras high court has recently confirmed the conviction and sentence imposed on a man by the additional district and sessions court in Theni in a murder for gain case in 2013.
A division bench of Justice G Jayachandran and Justice Sunder Mohan was hearing the criminal appeal filed by N Sreenivisan.
The case of the prosecution is that late Govindarajan, a resident of Theni owned a photo studio. In September 2013 two individuals, Seenivasan and Marisamy who Govindarajan knew abducted and killed him in a remote location not far from the Annanji Bypass Road.
The duo removed Govindarajan’s clothes, wrapped his body in a sari, put on a women’s wig, took a photograph and buried his body.
They then called Govindarajan’s family and informed them that he had murdered a woman and that they have photo evidence on a memory card in the deceased person’s two-wheeler at Chinnamannur. In an attempt to extort money, the duo demanded 60 lakhs. The duo then demanded 60 lakhs in an attempt to extort money.
Govindarajan’s son-in-law went there and recovered the memory card. When recovery mode was initiated a picture of a man was also found. When the card was handed over to the police, they identified the man as Seenivasan. Subsequently, they arrested Seenivasan and Marisamy.
In 2020, the trial court convicted and sentenced Seenivasan to undergo – three years imprisonment under IPC Section 379 (theft) of IPC, seven years imprisonment under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC and life imprisonment under IPC Section 302 (murder). The court directed Seenivasan to undergo all the sentences one after the other. Marisamy passed away during the trial.
The bench noted that the memory card is the primary piece of evidence in this case. Seenivasan had failed to explain how his photograph was discovered in the memory card. The chain of evidence against the accused is unbroken, firmly establishing him as the murderer.
