The Thrissur Fast Track Court on Monday termed Govindachamy, the accused in the Soumya rape and murder case, guilty.
Judge K.N. Raveendra Babu said the court would record on November 4 the statements of fingerprint experts who had submitted documents stating that the accused had been convicted earlier in other cases. He had been convicted in different names in other cases. On the basis of fingerprint evidence furnished by the experts, the court would examine whether the same person had been convicted in all the cases referred to by the prosecution.
The Fast Track Court would pronounce the quantum of sentence in the Soumya rape and murder case later.
According to the prosecution, Govindachamy of Virudhachalam near Salem had pushed Soumya, 23, an employee with a private firm in a shopping mall in Kochi, out of the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train (56608) after attempting to rob her. He then raped her. She died at the Thrissur Government Medical Hospital on February 6.
On February 3, Govindachamy was taken into custody from Palakkad.
The prosecutor pleaded for capital punishment, saying it was the rarest of rare case in the light of the scientific and circumstantial evidence produced in the court. He also prayed that absence of eyewitnesses should not be a lacuna in awarding maximum punishment “as the man had no qualm of conscience in committing rape and murder together.”
The court had recorded statements by 82 of the 154 witnesses. In all, 101 documents and 43 pieces of evidence were furnished against the accused. The court asked the accused 427 questions.
