Chennai: In a twist to the sensational murder case of a neurosurgeon here in 2013, one of the accused turned an approver saying he was ‘pricked by his conscience’.
P Iyappan deposed that on 14 September that year, he and two others, Murugan and Selvaprakash, waited for the doctor S D Subbiah to emerge from a hospital.
When the doctor walked up to his car, Iyappan said Murugan hit the surgeon first on his head and later Selvaprakash hacked him. Iyappan, in his deposition before an additional sessions court on Tuesday, said he was on a motorcycle just behind the victim’s car when the duo attacked the doctor.
Soon after the two assailants committed the crime, he said all three of them fled the scene in the motorcycle. On why he chose to confess, Iyappan said he was ‘pricked by his conscience’ that a doctor was murdered for money and jobs abroad.
“I am making this confession voluntarily,” he added. Special Public Prosecutor N Vijayaraj examined him and defence counsel Raghunathan cross-examined the witness. Also, Iyappan said Murugan apprised him just before the murder that each one of them would be paid Rs 50 lakh for executing the crime and were also assured of jobs abroad.
According to Iyappan, a property dispute at Anjugramam village in Kanyakumari district between the doctor and Ponnusamy (accused-1) led to the crime. With Iyappan turning approver, the total number of accused in the case has now come down to nine.