The Special Court for Bomb Blasts Cases, here on Tuesday, convicted eight persons on charges of abducting and killing two taxi drivers in two separate cases besides attempting to rob another cab driver at Pollachi in a third case in 2006 and 2007.
Sessions Judge Suresh Viswanath imposed multiple life sentences on John Anthonysamy alias John, the prime accused, for the murder and kidnap besides seven-year and ten-year sentences for concealment of evidence and other offences in the three cases. According to J. Amalanathan, Special Additional Public Prosecutor for the Bomb Blasts Court, John, also a taxi driver at Pollachi, and four others had hired a taxi driven by Kunjan alias Rajan on May 23, 2006 for a trip to Udumalpet. The others were identified as Muthumanickam alias Muthu, Ganesh alias Ganesh Kumar, Chinnaraj alias Chinnapan and Arunagiri alias Arun.
They left Pollachi around 6 a.m. on that day. En route, the group asked Rajan to stop the vehicle near Ammapettai around 9.30 a.m.
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They attacked Rajan with a spade and tied him up. They took the vehicle towards Dharapuram and strangulated Rajan in the vehicle. They buried his body 2 kilometres off the Dharapuram-Karur Road near Karaipasupathipalayam. In this case, Judge Suresh Viswanath found John, Muthu and Ganesh guilty and imposed life sentences on them for murder and a ten-year sentence for the kidnap on John. He also imposed life imprisonment on Muthu and Ganesh. Further, a sentence of seven years for concealment of evidence and another six months for criminal conspiracy was also imposed on them. He acquitted Arun and Chinnaraj.
In the second case, the prosecution stated that Muthu, Ganesh, Rajesh Kumar and Kaleeswaran had hired a cab driven by John Thomas of Pollachi on July 18, 2007 for a trip to Udumalpet.
The accused halted the vehicle near Ammapettai and strangulated John Thomas. In this case, all the accused were found guilty and sentenced to life sentences for murder and kidnap and a sentence of seven years for concealment of evidence besides six months for criminal conspiracy.
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In the third case, the prosecution claimed that John, Gandhirajan, Rathinam and Vijayan alias Vijay Kumar hired a cab driven by Balasubramanian at Pollachi for a trip to Palani on December 15, 2007. During the return trip, they overpowered Balasubramanian, bound him and put him in the trunk of the car. As they vehicle was low on fuel, the accused went to a petrol pump where Balasubramanian managed to escape. In this case, John was convicted on charges of attempt to robbery and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. The remaining three were acquitted.