Death penalty for accused in Vineetha murder case

Thiruvananthapuram: The additional sessions court-VII here on Thursday awarded the death penalty to Rajendran (40) of Aruvalmozhi, Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu for the 2022 murder of Vineetha, a plant nursery worker, at Ambalamukku here for a gold chain. Judge Prasoon Mohan gave the verdict by accepting the prosecution's plea for considering the crime as ‘rarest of the rare'.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 8,10,500 on Rajendran. He was awarded the death penalty and a fine of Rs 4 lakh for murder (Section 302 IPC), rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs 4 lakh for robbery (Section 397), three months' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 for criminal trespass (Section 447) and seven years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for destroying evidence (Section 201). All these sentences will run concurrently, the court said.
The convict had murdered Vineetha, a widow, while on bail in a case registered in Tamil Nadu for killing customs officer Subbaya (58), his wife Vasanthi (55) and daughter Abhisree (13) in 2015 and robbing them of gold. The trial in the case is pending at Nagercoil sessions court.
On Thursday, the court observed that it was a heinous crime and the accused deserved no leniency in punishment, considering his criminal background. The district collector and city police commissioner had earlier denied the possibility of rehabilitating the accused.
"He murdered four people, including Vineetha, for robbery. The horrible manner in which the crime was committed rules out any grim possibility of the accused repenting, and he poses a threat to society as chances are high for him committing similar offences in the future," special public prosecutor M Salahudeen said.
In default of payment of the fine, the convict shall undergo an additional rigorous imprisonment for three years, the court said. It directed that Rs 4 lakh from the fine amount should be given to Vineetha's two children. The children, aged 14 and 11, are being taken care of by Vineetha's parents, and the court directed the legal service authority to ensure adequate compensation for them as well.
Vineetha (38) of Pulippara at Karipur near Nedumangad, was murdered on Feb 6, 2022, in the midst of Covid restrictions. Rajendran, who was working in a tea shop at nearby Peroorkada, stabbed her to death and robbed her gold chain weighing 4.5 sovereigns. He escaped to Tamil Nadu thereafter, but police tracked him from CCTV footage along the road. Rajendran, a post-graduate, was reportedly into stock trading.
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