The brutal killing of a doctor and overturning of trial court ruling

Head neurosurgeon Dr. S.D. Subbiah was brutally attacked in a murder conspiracy, leading to a controversial legal battle.

S.D. Subbiah was working as the head neurosurgeon at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai. After retirement in May 2013, he worked at Billroth Hospital, R.A. Puram, and other hospitals.

At 5 p.m. on September 14, 2013, Dr. Subbiah walked towards his car after work at Billroth Hospital. When he approached his car parked in front of a house (No. 59/30, First Main Road, R.A.Puram), a three-member gang emerged and two of them attacked him with knives on the head, neck, shoulder and forehand. Dr. Subbiah was rushed to Billroth Hospital. On a complaint from his relative, the Abhiramapuram police (E-4) registered a case of attempt to murder (Crime No. 1352/2013). He was shifted for further treatment to Billroth Hospital, Shenoy Nagar, where he died on September 23. Thereafter, the case was booked Under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

The attack was captured on a CCTV camera, the trial court judge pointed out in his judgment. The accused were easily identified from the CCTV footage. The investigation officer traced the call records of the mobile phones used by the suspects. He filed the final report on May 6, 2015, before the XXIII Metropolitan Magistrate for the offences punishable under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 109 (abetment), 341(wrongful restraint), and 302 (murder), read with Section 34 (criminal act committed by several persons in furtherance of a common intention), of the Indian Penal Code. The accused were P. Ponnusamy, 55, of Kanniyakumari; his wife Mary Pushpam, 58; sons Basil, 26, and Boris 24; advocate B. William, 31; H. Yesurajan, 26; James Sathish Kumar, 37, of Tirunelveli district; and his assistants E. Murugan, 25, and S. Selvaprakash, 23, of Panakudi. P. Iyyappan, 24, of Pattayam, Tirunelveli, was an approver. James Sathish Kumar was a government doctor involved in real estate business.

Special Public Prosecutor N. Vijayraj said that to sustain the charges against the accused persons, 57 witnesses were examined, and 173 exhibits and 42 material objects were marked. During the trial, it was argued by counsel for the accused that Dr. Subbiah was not murdered, but he met with a car accident when he came back from home after lunch. However, the trial court rejected the arguments for want of any oral or documentary evidence.

The prosecution said the motive for the assault was the enmity between Dr. Subbiah’s family and Ponnusamy’s family stemming from a civil dispute pending in court. Both claimed the title of the land, measuring about two acres, at Alagappapuram, Anjugramam village in Kanniyakumari district, worth several crores. The accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to gain the property and launched hirelings to attack Dr. Subbiah, the prosecution contended.

On August 4, 2021, First Additional Sessions Court Judge (Trial Court) S. Alli awarded capital punishment to seven accused persons, including Ponnusamy, subject to the confirmation by the Madras High Court, and life imprisonment to Mary Pushpam and Yesurajan. The court said any other sentence than capital punishment would not be commensurate with the gravity of the offence. However, on appeals filed by the convicts, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court on June 14 this year acquitted all the convicts and ordered their release unless they were wanted in any other case.

The Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and Sunder Mohan said the prosecution had failed to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt; hence, the appellants were entitled to the benefit of the doubt. “From the beginning, the investigation had proceeded on the basis of the involvement of Ponnusamy and his family members. The investigating officer cannot proceed only on the assumption and the suspicion expressed by the victim/ de facto complainant. They ought to have conducted the investigation in a fair and unbiased manner,” the order said.