Gokulraj murder: Madras HC to hear convicts’ appeal in July

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court will take up the criminal appeal filed by Yuvaraj and other convicts in the Gokulraj murder case for the final disposal on July 6.
A division bench of justice P N Prakash and justice S Ananthi will hear the case on that day.
Yuvaraj in his appeal challenged the verdict stating that the entire case rests upon circumstantial evidence and the circumstances relied upon is not proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt.
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 later found near a railway track at Pallipalayam, the next day.
It may be recalled that the special court for trial of cases registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Madurai convicted 10 out of 17 suspects, while acquitting five others of all charges. One person was murdered during the trial, whereas 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, S Chandrasekaran, P Arun, S Kumar, R Sathiskumar, S Ragu, D Ranjith, 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.