District Mahila Court Judge M.P. Subramanian on Friday awarded life imprisonment to a 22-year-old youth of Samundipuram, in Tirupur district, for murdering a 25-year-old woman in a lodge at Mettupalayam in June 2012.
Special Public Prosecutor P. Sarojini said that the accused, B. Prakash, and the victim, Ammu alias Venkateshwari (25), an MBA graduate who worked as a school teacher, were relatives and lived in the same locality, and were in love. Their parents opposed their affair as the boy was only 19 years old (at that time).
On June 21, 2012, the two rented a room in a private lodge at Mettupalayam and stayed there till the 25{+t}{+h}of the month. “She is said to have told him that she would marry another man. Agitated over a heated argument, Prakash strangulated and also smothered her to death on June 26, 2012,” Ms. Sarojini said.
She added that he also took away the six sovereigns gold jewellery that she wore and abandoned her body in the lodge. He hired a taxi to Udumalpet and pledged the jewellery in a private financing firm there and went to a few tourist spots.
Meanwhile, the Mettupalayam Police lodged a complaint after the death of the girl came to light, sent her body for post-mortem, arrested Prakash a few days later. Prakash was booked under Sections 302 (murder) and 404 (dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by deceased person, at the time of his death) of the Indian Penal Code. He was later released on bail.
In his judgement, Mr. Subramanian sentenced him to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on him for the charges proved against him under Section 302. He was sentenced another to three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5,000 for charges proved under Section 404. Following the conviction, he was lodged at the Coimbatore Central Prison on Friday.
