A murder case accused, who tried to get acquitted by confusing the prosecution over the issue of his signature, was awarded death sentence by the Fast Track Court-I, Poonamallee, on Wednesday.
The accused, Jayakumar, was arrested by the J. J. Nagar Police in June 2008 in connection with the murder of Jayamala, wife of Lakshminarayanan in her flat on Vellarlar Street in Mogappair in Chennai, on December 12, 2007.
He signed the confession statement obtained by the police in English stating that he had murdered the woman and took away 8 sovereigns of jewellery from her before dumping the body in the bathroom. A case was booked under Sections 302, 449 and 382 of the IPC. Subsequently, he signed all court documents pertaining to the murder case, in Tamil. When the case came up for disposal before the FTC-I, he claimed he used to sign only in Tamil and the signature on the confession statement was fictitious.
The prosecution produced the receipt, obtained by him from a pawn broker at Villivakkam, where he pledged the stolen property, and his bank passbook and bank documents where he signed all documents in English. The FTC-I Judge, R. V. R. Dheenadhayalan, awarded death sentence to the accused clubbed with Rs.5000 as fine or two years' rigorous imprisonment in case he failed to remit the fine.
The Jude also awarded 10 years' RI to the accused and 10 years' RI with Rs.5000 as fine or RI for two years for each section.
