Rape, murder: Life sentence, penalized

Mangaluru: A man who developed immoral relationship with a woman, raped an murdered her around 7 years back in Marodi village of Belthangady taluk has been found guilty of his crimes by the 6^th Additional District and Sessions Court which has sentenced the convict to life imprisonment and levied a fine of Rs 2 lakh. The convict is Laxman Acharya (31) or Marodi.

Case synopsis

Laxman who was unmarried used to visit a 40-year-old woman in Marodi village who had left her husband. He had developed an immoral relationship with her. When the woman stared to demanding that he marry her, the youth lost his mind. He cunningly convinced the woman to accompany him to Derajagudde in Moradi village at around 2:30 pm in the afternoon of Aug 16, 2012, where he raped her followed by which he murdered her and fled.

In the evening, the woman’s son who had returned back from the school could not find his mother and hence informed the situation to his uncle. Later, relatives and villagers searched for the woman. On aug 18^th, the woman’s brother submitted a missing complaint to Venoor police in which he also mentioned Laxman to be a suspect.

On Aug 19^th, the police arrested Laxman and he admitted to the crime. Spot mahajar led to the finding of the putrefied remains of the woman. The accused had stolen the kari mane and earrings of the deceased, sold them and deposited the amount in a finance. The then Venoor police inspector Bhaskar Shetty investigated the case and submitted the chargesheet.

Sentencing

Judge Saiudunnisa investigated the case, held the accused guilty of his crimes and sentenced him life imprisonment under IPC 302 and fined Rs 2 lakh during the hearing on Friday. Failure to pay the fine will attract an additional simple incarceration of 1 year. The victim has a 14-years-old son and hence Rs 1.5 lakh of the fine will be given to the boy as compensation. The Judge also noted that the boy s eligible for assistance from the government as well as the legal service.

The sentencing was carried out after 23 witnesses and 20 documents were examined. Public prosecutor Judit O M Crasta argued on behalf of the prosecution.