MANGALURU: The memories of the gruesome murder of four people of a family at Vamanjoor in the city by a relative on the night February 23, 1994, has come back to haunt the family members of the victims. Praveen Kumar, the lone convict of the case, and serving life sentence in Ballari jail, is set to be released on August 15 under the Grant of Special Remission to Prisoners as part of celebrations of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
The decision to set free the convict has enraged not only the victims relatives but also the convict’s wife and his siblings and they together submitted a memorandum to Mangaluru city police commissioner N Shashikumar on Tuesday requesting not to release the convict. They have also written to the Governor, Chief Minister, Home Minister and Chief Secretary against Praveen’s release.
59-year-old Praveen, a tailor, from Hiriyadka near Uppinangady was living with his aunt Appi Sherigathy in Vamanjoor. He murdered his aunt Appi, her daughter Shakuntala, Son Govinda and grand daughter Deepaka (then 9 years old) for material gain. He was gambling and was under heavy debt.
Seetharama Gurpur, son of Appi Sherigathy, said Praveen should not be released as he is a dangerous and cold-blooded murderer who is not at all remorseful of his gruesome and grisly crime. Moreover, he said that Praveen had escaped from police custody soon after his capture and was hiding in Goa for four years where he married another woman and had a kid.
The relatives said their family members and the witnesses are also worried about their safety as Praveen could be still dangerous to the public as he has no remorse. Police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said that he will escalate the family’s request to the government immediately for further action. He said the commissionerate has not received any information about Praveen’s release so far.