Court to pronounce sentence in Vineetha case on Thursday

Thiruvananthapuram: Additional sessions court is set to pronounce the quantum of sentence on Thursday for Rajendran, a 40-year-old man from Tamil Nadu, who was found guilty in the 2022 Ambalamukku Vineetha murder case. Rajendran, a native of Kanyakumari, was convicted on April 10 for charges including murder and destruction of evidence. The court, presided over by judge Prasoon Mohan, heard arguments on sentencing on Monday.During the hearing, Rajendran claimed he was innocent and appealed for acquittal. When the judge asked Rajendran if he felt remorse for killing Vineetha, he said he had no regrets, claiming he had done nothing wrong. He told the court that he has a 70-year-old mother to support and expressed a desire to pursue higher education to become a lawyer. However, public prosecutor M Salahudeen argued that the severity of the crime warranted death penalty. He warned that if Rajendran were sentenced to life imprisonment, he might eventually secure bail and pose a threat to society again.The prosecutor labelled the crime as falling under the ‘rarest of the rare' category and urged the court to consider death penalty. The murder occurred on Feb 6, 2022, around 11.50am, when Rajendran visited Vineetha's shop in Ambalamukku pretending to purchase a plant. He then strangled her and made off with a gold chain weighing four and a half sovereigns. The court earlier directed the Thiruvananthapuram district collector to file a report assessing whether there was any potential for the convict's correction and rehabilitation. Additionally, the court ordered a mental health evaluation of Rajendran. He was examined by a psychiatrist and psychologist from the Peroorkada Mental Health Centre and their findings will be considered before sentencing. The final judgment on the sentence will be delivered on Thursday.The prosecution relied entirely on scientific and circumstantial evidence, as there were no direct eyewitnesses in the case. Of the 118 listed witnesses, 96 were examined. The prosecution submitted CCTV footage stored in 12 pen drives and seven DVDs, along with 222 documents, to establish the movements of the accused.