
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Neyyattinkara additional sessions court has awarded a death sentence to Greeshma, a 24-year-old woman from Ramavarmanchira in Kanyakumari district, who was found guilty of murdering her boyfriend Sharon Raj by administering him an ayurvedic concoction that was laced with a lethal herbicide, in 2022.
Justice A M Basheer reached the conclusion that it was a rarest-of-rare case and a brilliantly executed crime and ruled that the accused did not deserve any leniency on account of her young age and educational qualification. The act of woman sent a wrong message to the society and the accused trampled the sanctity of love.
The court summoned the parents of Sharon to hear the verdict and they broke down listening to it.
The court had earlier found Greeshma guilty of all charges levelled against her, including murder, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.
Greeshma's uncle Nirmalakumaran Nair, who was found guilty of destroying evidence, was given three years imprisonment. Greeshma’s mother Sindhu was earlier let off for want of evidence.
Sharon Raj, a 23-year-old BSc radiology student, died while undergoing treatment at the Medical College Hospital here after he was given the deadly concoction by his girlfriend on October 14 , 2022.
Sharon had suffered irreversible damages to his liver, kidney and lungs after consuming the poison, which was prepared by mixing paraquat dichloride with an ayurvedic medicine. He died of multiple organ failure 11 days later.
The Crime Branch that conducted the probe had found that Greeshma bumped off Sharon in order to marry an army man from Nagercoil. Sharon and Greeshma started a relationship in 2021, but after she got engaged to the army man a year later, she wanted to snap her relationship with Sharon. Greeshma pressured Sharon, who had unofficially married her, to back off from the relationship. But he was reluctant and finally Greeshma decided to do away with him clandestinely.
Special public prosecutor V S Vineeth Kumar had argued before the court that Greeshma tried to take Sharon's life in August 2022 by conducting a 'juice challenge'. She spiked the juice with 50 paracetamol tablets and gave that to Sharon. However, he spat it after taking a sip owing to the bitter taste. Two months later, in October, she lured the youth to her residence and gave him the deadly concoction. Sharon instantly vomitted after consuming it. Later, on his way back also, he threw up on a few occasions, which was later corraborated to the police by his friend Reji, who was presented as one of the witnesses. Sharon's parents Priya and Jayaraj said they were disheartened over Sindhu's acquittal and will file an appeal in the High Court against that.