10 sentenced to jail ‘till death’ for TN dalit youth’s murder

Madurai: Amid high drama on Tuesday, a special court in Madurai awarded life imprisonment ‘till death’ to S Yuvaraj, a prime accused in the murder of dalit youth Gokulraj in Namakkal district in June 2015, and his nine associates.
In all, 10 of the 17 suspects were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life, while five others were acquitted of all charges.One person was murdered during trial, while another accused is facing trial separately in the Namakkal sessions court.

While Yuvaraj was handed separate life terms for three offences — kidnap, conspiracy and murder, others including S Chandrasekaran, P Arun, S Kumar, R Sathiskumar, S Ragu, D Ranjith and D Selvaraj were sentenced to undergo separate life terms ‘until death’ for conspiracy and murder. Two others were sentenced to life imprisonment, besides five years for harbouring offenders.
Yuvaraj, founder of caste outfit Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai, and his associates kidnapped Gokulraj, an engineering student from Omalur in Salem district, on June 23, 2015, from a temple at Tiruchengode where he was seen talking to a girl belonging to the gounder community.
His torso was found near a railway track at Pallipalayam, the next day.