TIRUCHY: Two persons were found guilty of robbing and murdering a 76-year-old woman in BHEL in 2011. On Monday, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court sentenced Murali (37) of Vellore to life imprisonment and Karthik (27) of Katpadi to three years for aiding in the murder. Though they had been acquitted in 2015, police reopened the case and solved the nine-year-old mystery.
On 2011, BHEL employee Nagaraj found his mother Nagalakshmi brutally murdered and her gold jewellery missing from the house. BHEL police started an investigation and arrested Murali and Karthik in connection with the murder. In 2015, due to lack of evidence, a Tiruchy court acquitted them. Police sources said that taking the challenging case in their hands, BHEL police filed a petition with the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court and reopened the case.
Following investigations, it was found Murali and Karthik were involved in the murder.
Sources said in 2011, Murali, a driver with BHEL, was facing financial problems. He and his friend Karthik decided to rob a soft target in BHEL and zeroed in on Nagalakshmi, who lived with her son. The duo barged into the house when Nagalakshmi was alone, murdered her and stole all the valuables. They hid her body in the pooja room of the house.
On Friday, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court found the duo guilty and based on the court order, BHEL police arrested the duo on Monday and produced them before the court under Sections 302 and 380 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).