Kollam: The Kollam principal sessions court on Wednesday found notorious criminal Antony Varghese, 48, alias Aadu Antony guilty in the murder of policeman Maniyan Pillai. The court, which upheld six charges against him, will pronounce the sentence on Friday. Antony had murdered Maniyan Pillai and stabbed ASI Joy of Parippally police station here in June 2012.
He has been charged with sections of IPC 302 for murder, 307 for attempt to murder, 331 for attacking a public servant with weapon, 468 for forgery, 473 for using forged documents purposely, and 224 for escaping from detention. The court dismissed the charges under IPC section 201 for tampering with evidence as the police failed to retrieve the knife used by Antony to stab the policeman to death.
The chargesheet was submitted within 90 days of capturing Antony and a special team had been constituted to produce witnesses during the trial. As many as seven witnesses from Tamil Nadu were produced before the court in connection with the case.
ASI Joy, the prime witness in the murder case, had given the statement that he found an omni van under suspicious circumstances near Jawahar Junction at Kulamada on the Parippally–Nilamel road while returning after patrolling duty. He found Aadu Antony in the van which contained a shopping bag with a screw driver and other tools. Maniyan Pillai who was along with Joy got onto the driver’s seat while Joy made Antony get on the back of the jeep. Joy went to take the bag and on coming back, he saw Antony holding Maniyan Pillai around his neck and stabbing him with a knife. Joy was also stabbed by Antony, who fled the scene in the van.
Antony was arrested from his wife’s house near Gopalapuram in Palakkad in October 2015. Antony who has more than 200 cases in his name has 27 cases registered in Kollam alone. He has also married some 20 women.
