"The prosecution has failed to prove its case conclusively," a division bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan held yesterday in an appeal filed by Senbaga Srikumar, who was one of the four convicted persons.
In its order, the court said just because the four happened to be in the same prison cell in which another inmate died after sustaining injuries, "it cannot be conclusively presumed that they alone had caused the injuries on Selvaraj" which resulted in his death.
Holding that if the defence's "presumption has to be accepted," the court said, "Then the same yardstick has to be applied and the other seven, including the two prosecution witnesses, have to be held responsible for the murder."
On August 14, 2009, Selvaraj alias Siva was brought to Central Prison in Kaladipet, Puducherry. He was lodged in a cell where there were 11 other prisoners, including Senbaga Srikumar.
The Third Additional Sessions Court, Puducherry had last year convicted the four prisoners in the case and awarded life sentence to them.