Madras High Court Bench today acquitted seven persons who were sentenced to life for murdering a man, the father of two of the accused in December 2011 over a property dispute.
Justices A Selvam and V S Ravi set aside the trial court's judgement on the ground that 13 prosecution witnesses had turned hostile during the trial.
The Principal District and Sessions Court, Tiruchirapalli had convicted them on November 21, 2013, and sentenced them to life imprisonment, based on extra-judicial confession by one of the accused.
The confession was reportedly made to a Revenue Inspector.
He had deposed before the trial court that after recording the confession, he had prepared a special report and handed over both records to the Inspector concerned, besides informing the jurisdictional Village Administrative Officer.
Besides the deposition of the Revenue Inspector did not tally with the evidence adduced by the Police Inspector, as well as the VAO during the trial, the court said and set aside the trial court verdict.
