Coimbatore: The Mahila Court here on Wednesday awarded death sentence to a construction labourer from Tirunelveli district, after he was found guilty of raping and murdering a 24-year-old college professor in Karamadai in 2014. He was also handed down another three counts of life imprisonment for other related charges.
According to the prosecution, D. Ramya, 24, an assistant professor in a private engineering college at Kinathukadavu on Pollachi road was found dead at her residence at Ganesh Nagar near Teachers Colony in Karamadai on Nov. 3, 2014.
Her mother D. Malathi (48), a homemaker lay unconscious with serious injuries.
The incident came to light when the victim’s father Dharmaraj (50), a Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) staff at Kothagiri in Nilgiris district, on returning home panicked after both his wife and daughter did not pick up his calls. He found his daughter lying dead in pool of a blood and wife in an unconscious state with severe head injuries.
Malathi was rushed to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, where she fortunately recovered after treatment. On 23 January, 2015, the Karamadai police arrested K. Mahesh, a native of Thenkasi in Tirunelveli district from Pappanaickenpalayam area.
He was arrested in a different case, but was found to be involved in the rape and murder of the professor during enquiry. On the day of incident, Mahesh had followed the victim, who was heading home on foot, with intent to snatch her chain, the prosecution said.
However, suspecting her to be alone, the convict barged into the house through the back door. He attacked Malathi with a wooden log, then raped and murdered Ramya in a brutal manner. The accused then fled away with 3.2 sovereigns of gold jewels from the house.
On completion of trial, the Mahila Court judge G Raja awarded him death by hanging for murder, besides three life sentences for rape, trespassing and attempt to murder. In addition, he was also given ten years of imprisonment for attempt to murder, which may be served concurrently. Also the accused was slapped with a fine of '25,000.
