Couple gets death penalty for killing parents over property

Couple gets death penalty for killing parents over property

Passed Off Murder As Fire Mishap Due To Air Conditioner Blast

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:31.10.2021

A husband and wife who conspired together and murdered the parents and younger brother of the man to gain ownership of the family property, by throwing petrol bombs inside the house in Tindivanam, Villupuram district have been sentenced to death by a special court for bomb blast cases. The accused had passed off the murder as an accident by claiming that air conditioner explosion led to the fire. They have been found guilty under sections of the explosive substances act.

According to prosecution, M Govardanan, a private school teacher and his wife, Deepika Gayatri were living along with Govardanan’s family at Subarayan street in Kaveripakkam, Tindivanam. Investigations revealed that Govardanan, after his marriage in 2018, demanded money from his parents to start a business, but was denied as he had already spent lavishly. Besides, the main accused was also holding a grudge against his parents as they continuously insulted him. Subsequently, to settle his loans, Govardanan pledged his wife’s jewellery and then again demanded money from his parents. His father agreed to arrange Rs 30 lakh as his share from the ancestral property. Since there was delay, heconfronted his parents on May 14, 2019.

Aggrieved over their evasive responses, on May 15, Govardanan prepared petrol bombs (molotov cocktail) and threw them in rooms , where his parents and brother were sleeping. His mother, Kalaiselvi died in the room. When his brother Gowthaman tried to escape, another petrol bomb was thrown at him, leading to his death due to severe burns. When his father, Raju tried to escape through the kitchen door, Govardanan kicked him and stabbed him with a butcher knife. The couple later raised an alarm to make it seem like their family members have died due to explosion in the air conditioner.

P Velmurugan, Sessions Judge, special court for exclusive trial of bomb blast cases held that the prosecution proved their arguments with documentary evidence. “The crime committed is diabolic, gruesome, barbaric and inhuman. If the accused are awarded lesser punishment on the premise that there is a chance for reformation, it would amount to misplaced sympathy and society will not accept the same and will degrade the image of the Indian criminal justice administrative system,” the court said.

“The crime committed is diabolic, gruesome, barbaric and inhuman. If the accused are awarded lesser punishment on the premise that there is a chance for reformation, it would amount to misplaced sympathy and society will not accept the same.”