Deliberate Scripting Of Events: Kerala High Court Acquits Accused In Nilambur Congress Party Officer Murder

The Kerala High Court acquitted the accused in Nilambur Congress Office Murder case.

The lingering doubts that pervades every aspect of the evidence led, persuades us to give the accused the benefit of doubt and acquit them of the charges levelled against them, the division bench comprising Justices K. Vinod Chandran and MR Anitha observed.

The deceased, who was working as a Sweeper, was allegedly murdered inside the Congress block committee office at Nilambur in Malappuram on February 5 in 2014. One of the accused was the Personal Assistant of a Minister and the Secretary of the Office of the Local Committee of the then ruling party.  The Sessions Court convicted both the accused under Sections 302, 376(1), 201, 404 and 342.

According to the prosecution case, the murder was carried out inside the computer room of the Party Office, after which the body was huddled into a jute sack and carried to the goods vehicle of one of the accused and removed from the scene. The goods vehicle was parked inside a residential compound near the roadside at Unnikkulam, till evening and thereafter the body was disposed of in the night, in a pond after tying it with two stones for the purpose of submerging it.

"We have discussed the evidence threadbare and we have pointed out the inconsistencies starting from the medical evidence adduced. The post-mortem report was unnecessarily delayed and was signed only after the crime scene visit carried out by the team of Doctors, which was unnecessary since the medical opinion as to cause of death does not depend upon examination of the crime scene. Right from the beginning of the investigation there is a deliberate scripting of events, clear from the evidence led by the prosecution. We have pointed out the glaring improbabilities in the prosecution case which coupled with the omissions and contradictions and the artificial manner in which the recoveries were made, with perfunctory identification carried out by the witnesses in Court, raise very serious doubts as to the case set up by the prosecution. The contradictions/omissions/embellishments as pointed out by us is of such a magnitude that it materially affects the case of the prosecution and are not of a trivial nature", the bench observed after reappreciating the evidence on record. 

The court added that the ingenuity of the investigator is in unearthing the evidence that eludes the common man and not in scripting a story and collecting evidence to match the script.

"We are unable to accept that in this case there is an unbroken chain of circumstances which unerringly results in the conclusion of the guilt of the accused and excludes every hypothesis of their innocence. The lingering doubts that pervades every aspect of the evidence led, persuades us to give the accused the benefit of doubt and acquit them of the charges levelled against them.", the court said while acquitting the accused.

CASE: SHAMSUDHEEN @ BAPPUTTY vs. STATE OF KERALA

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