The Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) set aside a 2024 Madras High Court decision acquitting the nine accused persons in the 2013 sensational murder of neurosurgeon S.D. Subbiah near Billroth Hospital in Raja Annamalaipuram in Chennai.

A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and S.C. Sharma upheld the trial court judgment of conviction against the nine accused, including P. Ponnusamy, his wife Mary Pushpam, their sons P. Basil and P. Boris.

The trial court had sentenced seven accused, including the father and the two sons, to death for the murder in Agust 2021. Ms. Pushpam and another accused were punished with a life term in prison.

The State of Tamil Nadu, represented by senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and advocates MF Philip and Purnima Krishna, had moved the Supreme Court in appeal against the High Court’s acquittal of all nine accused persons.

According to the prosecution, the neurosurgeon was attacked by a three-member gang, when he was about to get into his car parked on the side of a road in R.A Puram in Chennai at around 5 p.m. on September 14, 2013. He suffered multiple injuries and succumbed on September 23, 2013.

After his death, the police altered the charges in the First Information Report (FIR) from Section 307 (attempt to murder) to Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and arrested 10 persons. The 10th person had turned approver.

The police had concluded that Mr. Ponnusamy and his family members had engaged the gang to kill the neurosurgeon due to a property dispute.