The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday acquitted four persons who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Dindigul in a double murder case.

The court was hearing appeals filed by the accused in the case — Muthukumar, Selvaraj, Selvapandi and Thoongan alias Urathevar. The Additional District and Sessions Court in Dindigul had sentenced the four to life imprisonment for the murder of Kannan and Periyasamy due to a family dispute.

A Division Bench of Justices N. Anand Venkatesh and K.K. Ramakrishnan said though there were crucial witnesses whose statements ought to have been recorded under Section 161(3) of the Cr.P.C., and who should have been examined as witnesses, they had not been done by the Investigation Officer who was not able to give any explanation when questioned in the course of cross-examination.

The court said in the light of conflicting versions given by the eye witnesses, coupled with non-examination of vital witnesses, an adverse inference had to be drawn by the court to the effect that vital witnesses were not examined since the true facts would have surfaced and the very genesis and the substratum of the case of the prosecution would have been demolished.

The court expressed its anguish in the manner in which the investigation was conducted in the double murder case.

It held that the prosecution failed to prove its case only because of the bizarre manner in which the Investigation Officer had conducted the investigation.

The court directed that departmental action be initiated against the Investigating Officer under the relevant service rules and it should be completed as expeditiously as possible after affording opportunity to the officer.