THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three men, including a soldier, were handed life imprisonment for murdering a 30-year-old woman at Amboori in the rural parts of Thiruvananthapuram district. Amboori natives Akhil Nair, 24; his brother Rahul Nair, 27; and their friend Adarsh Nair, 23, were sentenced for life by Additional Sessions court judge K Vishnu.
The court had earlier found them guilty of murdering Rakhi Mol, a 30-year-old resident of Thirupuram near Neyyattinkara, four years ago.
The convicts have also been ordered to pay a penalty of Rs 4 lakh each. Public prosecutors M P Geetha and M Salahudeen appeared for the prosecution. Salahudeen said the trio were found guilty of murder and destruction of evidence.
The murder occurred on June 21, 2019. According to the prosecution, Akhil, who worked in the Army, killed Rakhi with the help of two others. Akhil was having an affair with Rakhi, who then worked at a private firm in Kalamassery.
Even while he was maintaining a relationship with Rakhi, Akhil befriended another woman from Anthiyoorkonam and got engaged to her. The photos of the engagement function were uploaded on social media, and Rakhi happened to see those. Bitter over the turn of events, Rakhi warned Akhil that she would not allow the marriage to take place.
Worried that Rakhi might sabotage his marriage, Akhil, with the help of two others, sought to kill her. He called Rakhi to the Neyyattinkara bus stand on the pretext of taking her to his newly built house. He took her in a car and headed towards Amboori via Dhanuvachapuram. During the journey, Akhil and Adarsh throttled Rakhi using the car’s seat belt. Rahul, who was behind the wheels, revved up the engine to prevent Rakhi’s cries from being heard by others.
The body was later moved to Akhil’s house and buried in a pit. The body was sprinkled with salt to expedite its decay. Acting on a man-missing complaint, the Poovar police managed to detain Adarsh. The culprits had sent a message from Rakhi’s SIM card to mislead the probe, and that proved to be their undoing. The message was that Rakhi had broken up her relationship with Akhil, and she was going away with another friend.
It was found that the culprits had sent the message impersonating Rakhi, and since her phone was locked using her fingerprint, they had to fetch another phone to insert her SIM card.