Mangaluru court hands down life sentences to six people for murder

Mangaluru: The First Additional District and Sessions Court here awarded life sentences to six people who were found guilty of murdering a 30-year old man and setting him on fire. The convicted people are Anand Naika (39), Praveen Naika (39), Vinay Kumar (34), Prakash (35), Lokesh (38) and Nagaraj (43).

In his order, the judge T P Ramalinge Gowda also directed all the six to pay a fine of Rs 23,000.

According to a charge-sheet filed by Belthagady police, 30-year old Suresh Naika, a resident of Malavantige village of Belthangady, was to get engaged with a girl on April 30, 2017.

On April 29, 2017, Suresh Naika left for Ujire to buy a sari for the girl.

Suresh Naika received a call from Vinay Kumar stating that he can help him in getting relief under a government scheme.

Suresh Naika then went missing and the body was found burnt a week later at a secluded place in Alekki village.

Vinay Kumar and the other accused were arrested by the then circle Inspector K Nagesh.

The charge-sheet said that Anand Naika hatched a conspiracy to murder Suresh Naika as he did not want the latter to marry the girl he loved.

The judge sentenced all the six persons to life imprisonment and asked them to pay a fine of Rs 23,000 under various sections of the IPC.

The judge said Rs 1 lakh should be given to Suresh Naika”s mother Girija from the fine amount.

He also directed the district legal services authority to pay adequate compensation to Girija under the Karnataka victim compensation scheme.