MANJERI:Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed’s former personal staff member B K Biju and Kunnasseri Shamsudheen were handed life imprisonment in the Radha murder case by the First Additional Sessions Court here on Thursday.
Radha, a sweeper, was murdered in the Congress’ Nilambur block office on February 5, 2014, and her body was recovered from a pond at Unnikulam near Nilambur on February 10, 2014.
The court sentenced the 38-year-old first accused, Biju, to 14 years and three months in jail apart from the life term. He was also asked to pay a fine of Rs 86,000, failing which he will have to serve five years and eight months more in prison.
The court awarded 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 41,000 for the second accused, apart from the life term. The 29-year-old will have to serve an additional jail term of three years and five months if he fails to pay the fine.
‘Personal Vendetta Led to Murder’
MANJERI: “The court sentenced the culprits for murder, rape, confinement, stealing from the dead body and an attempt to tamper with the evidence. The sentence under various sections can be served in one go,” Special Public Prosecutor P G Mathew said.
First Additional Sessions Judge P S Sasikumar dismissed the prosecution’s argument that the culprits should get capital punishment. The defendants argued that the murder was part of a personal vendetta, the motive wasn’t proved in the court and that the case didn’t fall in the the “rarest of rare” category. The accused pleaded for a lighter sentence, arguing that they were the sole breadwinners of their families. The court was adjourned till noon after hearing the accused and their advocates. The judge pronounced the sentence in the afternoon in the packed court hall.
He allowed 30 days’ time for the convicts to file an appeal in a higher court.