A special court here on Tuesday sentenced nine persons to rigorous imprisonment for life after it found them guilty of the >murder of 32-year-old businessman Paul Muthoot George. The victim, the scion of a prominent business family in the State, was stabbed to death in a road-rage related incident near Nedumudy in Alappuzha district on the night of August 21, 2009. The high-profile crime had shocked society. Those convicted for Paul’s murder were hirelings with a bad police record. A local trader had contracted them to settle a score with a business rival of his.
The murder occurred when the gang was on its way to assault their target. They were 13 in all, travelling in two separate vehicles. In an unusual coincidence of events, they chanced to witness the van driven by Paul ram a motorbike and speed away without attending to the injured rider. In a drunken age, they tailed Paul’s vehicle and confronted the businessman when he stopped to inspect his van for damage. In the ensuing scuffle, Kari Satheesh, the main accused in the case, knifed the businessman to death. Paul’s vehicle mate, Manu, escaped with minor injuries. The court found that Paul’s murder was more in the nature of a
spur-of-the moment crime than a pre-meditated one. The accused, including the gang leader Jayachandran, were found guilty of wilful murder, wrongful detention, unlawful assembly and violation of the Arms Act. The court slapped a fine of Rs. 50,000 on each of the accused. They would have to undergo further two years of imprisonment if they failed to pay the fine.
Separately, the court found all the 13 guilty of conspiring to assault the man they had been given the contract to kill or maim. It sentenced all of them to 13 years of rigorous imprisonment for the offence. The sentences need be served concurrently. The suspects were also found guilty of destroying evidence in the case and stocking crude bombs for criminal purpose. CBI Special Court Judge R. Reghu presided. SP Nandakumar Nair investigated the case.
