NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted Ripper Jayanandan in the Perinjanam double murder case.
The Kerala government had appealed against the Kerala High Court’s ruling in the Apex Court.
A trial court had earlier pronounced the death sentence to Jayanandan in the Perinjanam case in which he is accused of killing two members of a family—Kalapurackkal Sahadevan and his wife Nirmala.
Jayanandan is accused of murdering at least five people apart from the victims of the Perinjanam murders.
During one of his heists, Jayanandan stealthily entered the house of Elikutty on May 5, 2005. When Elikutty woke up, Jayanandan attacked her with an iron wok turner on the head. Elikutty’s daughter and son-in-law woke up hearing the scuffle and saw Jayanandan escaping from the scene and the old woman lying in a pool of blood with the wok turner stuck deep inside her head.
Police had charged Jayanandan with murder, robbery, and trespassing into the house based on the statements of Elikutty’s daughter and son-in-law. On November 2, a CBI special court gave him death sentence for murdering 60-year-old Devaki and robbing her of her bangles after cutting off her hands on October 2, 2006.
During the interrogation by police, he confessed to having committed seven murders during robbery attempts. Jayanandan also told cops he killed Devaki, poured kerosene at the place and left after leaving the cooking gas on.