A Tirupattur court on Friday sentenced a 23-year-old youth to life imprisonment for murdering his paramour in 2011. The woman was set ablaze in front of her two children, who were the eye-witnesses in the case.
Judge of the Tirupattur Additional District Sessions Court, P Murugan, found Pugazhenthi (23) of Sehvathur village near Kandhili guilty of murdering his paramour Rajammal (30) by setting her ablaze for refusing to cooperate when he forced himself on her. The judge awarded life imprisonment under various Sections and slapped a fine of ` 5,000, Additional Public Prosecutor A Dilli Babu said.
The incident had taken place around on April 1, 2011. Pugazhenthi had developed an illegal affair with Rajammal. On the ill-fated day, Pugazhenthi had gone to Rajammal’s house and tried to force himself on her. However, she had resisted saying that her children had returned from school.
Angered over this, Pugazhenthi poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze in front of her children, aged 10 and 9 years then. He fled the spot. The neighbours shifted her to the Tirupattur GHovernment Hospital, where she died on May 4, without responding to treatment.
However, before succumbing to death, Rajammal gave a dying declaration stating that Pugazhenthi had set her ablaze. “Rajammal also stated that he had threatened her saying he would murder her husband and children, if she exposed him,” Dilli Babu added.
Based on the dying declaration, the Kandhili police had registered a case against Rajammal’s paramour and arrested him. Taking the eye-witness account of Rajammal’s children and her dying declaration, the judge sentenced Pugazhenthi to life imprisonment, A Dilli Babu said further.