A Sessions Court here on Friday awarded life sentence to a couple, who were residents of Minjur, for murdering a cine artist in 2010 after she refused to give them money. The First Additional Sessions Judge S. Malathi also imposed a fine of Rs 33,000.
The additional public prosecutor M. Selvaraj said that Adhilakshmi, who lived alone in a house on Kola Mamaniamman Koil Street near Kodambakkam railway station, had been providing financial assistance to Prabha alias Prabhavathi and her husband Edward Jayakumar, who were her relatives.
The prosecutor said that when she refused to give them money, they hatched a plot to kill her.
The couple entered her house in Kodambakkam on October 15, 2010 at midnight and strangulated her with a towel. She was found dead by the police after a complaint from her daughter and son-in-law.
The police arrested the couple at Chennai Central station shortly before they were to board a train on October 18, 2010.