A 52-year-old man and his wife were sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering the man’s brother over a land dispute a year ago.
Judge of Additional District Session Court- III, Tirupattur, P Murugan, found T Perumal (50) and his wife Alamelu, residents of Puliyur village in Jawadhu Hills, guilty of murdering his brother Govindan ( 57), in December 2011, over a land dispute.
On Wednesday, The judge awarded life imprisonment to the couple under Section 302 (punishment for murder) and slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on each.He also awarded three months imprisonment for the couple under Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing injuries) and three years’ imprisonment under Section 506 (ii) (criminal intimation) of IPC. The judge further pronounced that they would undergo the imprisonment concurrently, additional public prosecutor A Dilli Babu said. Perumal had been raising crops on his 3.5-acre ancestral land and benefited out of it without sharing the land with his brothers. His elder bother Govindan, with the help of the elders, divided the land into three shares, for himself, his second brother Thuckkan and last brother Perumal.
Since then Perumal and his family harboured an enmity towards Govindan. On December 8, 2011, Perumal and Alamelu decided to eliminate Govindan. They hacked him to death when he and his wife Nachi were on the way to their lands, Dilli Babu added.
Govindan died on the spot before his sons could come to his rescue. Perumal and Alamelu fled from the spot. However, the Tirupattur taluk police arrested them the next day.