MURUGAN vs THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU REP. BY THE INSPECTOR OF POLICE — Crl.A. No. 229/2012

Case Summary: Murugan v. The State of Tamil Nadu Outcome: Supreme Court partly allowed the appeal, modifying Murugan's conviction from Section 302 IPC (murder) to Section 326 IPC (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon). His life sentence was reduced to time served, and he was ordered released immediately (October 10, 2018), as he had already spent over 8 years in custody. Reason: The prosecution failed to establish murder charges based on weak evidence—only one eyewitness (the deceased's wife) provided a solitary statement about a knife wound, while the deceased suffered 23 injuries. The prosecution could not correlate which specific injuries Murugan caused, making individual culpability for murder unsustainable under IPC Section 302. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.