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Friday, April 22, 2011

Navarasu murder case: life term for accused restored

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the double life term given to John David for the murder of Pon Navarasu, son of former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras, K. Ponnuswamy and first-year student at a medical college in Chidambaram, in 1996.

The incident had sent shock waves across Tamil Nadu as it was the gruesome end to a college ragging ritual. David reportedly had a fight with his junior Navarasu and killed him in his hostel room. He then decapitated and dismembered the body and stashed it in different places.

While David had been acquitted by the Madras High Court, the Tamil Nadu government appealed against its verdict in the Supreme Court, which accepted that David took Navarasu to his room and killed him there.

A Bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Mukundakam Sharma while restoring the trial court's verdict set aside the Madras High Court judgment acquitting John David.

The prosecution said that John David, a hostel mate of Navarasu, committed the murder pursuant to a ragging incident.

The present SLP by the State was directed against the High Court judgment.

Writing the judgment Justice Sharma said, “There are enough circumstantial evidence to hold that it is none else but the accused who could have caused the concealment of torso and limbs, because it was the accused who had severed the head of deceased Navarasu and, therefore, he must have been in possession of the torso and limbs, which were subsequently recovered and were proved to be that of deceased Navarasu.”

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