Man, son get life term for murder in Coimbatore

The Special Court for the Trial of Bomb Blast Cases, Coimbatore, on Thursday sentenced a father and son to undergo life imprisonment for murdering a 72-year-old man near Kovilpalayam in 2017. Sessions judge D. Balu convicted Ramasamy (65) and his son Yesukumar (30), residents of Agraharasamakulam near Kovilpalayam, for murdering M. Palanisamy. The court also imposed a fine of ₹ 5,000 each on them. According to the police, Palanisamy owned six cents at Agraharasamakulam where a house was under construction. Ramasamy ran a pork stall close to the plot and owned a pig farm. Palanisamy and his son Sundaramurthy suspected that Ramasamy had encroached upon his land and this led to a dispute between the two families. The police said that the events that led to the murder started when Palanisamy unloaded a unit of sand on the side of the road for the construction works. When Ramasamy questioned the move, Palanisamy tried to assault him with a spade. Following the incident, Ramasamy and Yesukumar went to Palanisamy’s house at Thottipalayam on November 12, 2017 and threatened him. The father and son confronted Palanisamy when he came to the house under construction in the evening on the same day.  According to the police, Ramasamy and Yesukumar assaulted Palanisamy with a spanner and a knife which was used to chop meat.  Palanisamy was later found dead. The Kovilpalayam police arrested Ramasamy and Yesukumar. Special public prosecutor K. Karthikeyan appeared for the prosecution.