The Supreme Court has restored the convictions of nine individuals in the sensational 2013 murder case of Chennai-based neurologist Dr. S. Subbiah, overturning the Madras High Court’s earlier acquittal order.
According to the judgment delivered by a bench comprising Justices M. M. Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma, the Madras High Court had committed a “grave error” while reversing the trial court’s findings. The apex court said the evidence presented during the trial clearly supported the convictions.
Dr. Subbiah, a well-known Chennai neurosurgeon, was brutally hacked to death near Billroth Hospital in 2013. Investigators later concluded that the murder stemmed from a long-running property dispute involving a two-acre land parcel in Kanyakumari district.
The trial court had originally sentenced seven accused to death and two others to life imprisonment. However, the Madras High Court acquitted all nine accused in 2024, citing inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence. The Tamil Nadu government subsequently challenged that verdict in the Supreme Court.
While restoring the convictions, the Supreme Court converted the punishment to life imprisonment for all accused after the Tamil Nadu government informed the court that it was no longer seeking the death penalty. The court also allowed two elderly convicts to seek pardon from the Governor of Tamil Nadu considering their age and limited role in the conspiracy.
The judgment described the case as an example of how “greed beyond limits” can lead to extreme violence, with the bench even referring to Rabindranath Tagore’s writings on greed during the ruling.
News as Reported.
