Man from Chennai jailed for brother-in-law's murder

City court awards life imprisonment for convict

Judge of first additional district and sessions court Lakshman F Malavalli has sentenced a man convicted of murder to life imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 50,000.

Rajesh a pawn broker from Chennai is the convict who is facing jail on the charge of hacking his brother-in-law Arjun to death way back on March 31, 2011.

Arjun had married Hema daughter of Bhavarlal of Chennai. All was fine until Arjun discovered about his wife’s previous marriage and the son she had begot.

 It led to quarrel among the couple and eventually Arjun decided to move out of Chennai along with the family of wife and a child for good. Arjun ventured into pawn broker business at Hullahalli in Nanjangud taluk in the district. However, Hema continued to quarrel and left for her parents for permanent. It was here Rajesh entered the scene bringing back his sister for a patch up with her husband.

In a bid to broker the truce, Rajesh also took Arjun to his uncle Lekharam’s place in H D Kote on that ill-fated day. While returning home in the night, Rajesh who was riding pillion, hit Arjun with a hammer in his possession, killing him on the spot.

Rajesh is said to have fabricated a story of accident blaming Arjun for riding under the influence of liquor. He had also succeeded in convincing both the doctors and police.

Victim’s brother Ladhoram a resident of Kodasoge in Gundlupet taluk who was not ready to believe in the story, lodged a complaint with H D Kote police. Ladhoram was convinced that the bodily injuries may have been caused by murder, not by accident.

Interestingly, police succeeded in cracking the murder mystery with the help of call detail records of the accused cell phone and other evidences, according to public prosecutor H E Chinnappa.

Woman held

Continuing with their drive against carrying inflammable materials on train, railway protection force (RPF) personnel attached to south western railway (SWR, Mysore on Thursday arrested a woman and seized four litres of kerosene. She was later produced before a court and released after paying a fine of Rs 200.

The woman identified as Tulasamma of Akkur village in Ramanagar taluk was about to board the train for Channapatna in the railway station in Mysore when she was intercepted by the police. She was booked under section 164 of Railway Act. Police said carrying inflammable materials on train is prohibited and attracts imprisonment of up to three years if convicted.