Mangaluru: Two get life sentence for murder

Mangaluru: Two persons accused of murder were handed down a life sentence by a court here on Friday, December 31.

In the crime that occurred in 2018, third additional district and sessions court here found the accused, Gowdappa Gowda Sannagowdru and Hullappa Basappa Soodi, guilty of murdering their acquaintance Mariayappa. Both the accused and the victim were migrant laborers.

After a thorough examination of witnesses and other evidence submitted, Judge B B Jakati found both the accused guilty of pre-planned murder under IPC section 302 and 201. The court sentenced them to life in imprisonment and a fine.

As per the case documents, Gowdappa Gowdru owed the victim Mariyappa Rs 10,000 and it became the reason for the planned murder. The victim had demanded the immediate return of the money owed as he was constructing a house at his native place at Kushtagi in Koppal. Angered by this Gowdappa and Basappa Soodi hatched a plan on May 31, 2018, to kill Mariyappa.

Both the convicts had hacked Mariyappa to death on the same night at their residence in the estate. They then cut up the body into two pieces and threw it into the stormwater canal nearby, so as to destroy evidence of the crime.

The matter came to light two days later, when the mortal remains were found when a pump was being repaired.