KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday commuted the death sentence awarded to Ripper Jayanandan, accused in the Puthenvelikkara murder case, to life imprisonment. As per the order, the accused has to serve the life sentence without parole. The Ernakulam Sessions Court awarded death sentence to the accused, considering the case to be ‘rarest of the rare’. “The accused committed the crime in an extremely brutal and diabolical manner, for financial gains.
The accused murdered a helpless women who was sleeping, while committing robbery in her house. Then, he chopped off her left hand and robbed six gold bangles,” stated in the verdict issued by the Sessions Court. The case is that Jayanandan alias Jayan of Mala murdered Baby alias Devaki, 51, and attacked her husband Ramakrishnan on October 2, 2006. After committing the murder, the accused sprayed kerosene and set the house ablaze by igniting the cooking gas cylinder.
According to the State Police, Ripper Jayanandan is involved in 23 criminal cases registered in several police station. He is also accused in five other murder cases. Earlier, the Thrissur Principal Sessions Court had awarded death sentence to Jayanandan in the Perinjanam double murder case. Sahadevan of Perinjanam Kovilakam, Kalappurackkal, and his wife Nirmala were murdered on October 4, 2004. Following the order, the accused had filed a petition challenging it.