SC upholds life term of six in murder of TN BJP worker

The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and sentence of life term awarded to six people for killing a BJP worker in Trichy in 1999.

The BJP worker was killed just after the Coimbatore serial blasts with an aim to stop the growth of the saffron party.

The appellants claimed that prosecution witness Lakshmi Priya, the daughter of deceased Dr Sridhar, BJP’s town secretary at Trichy, could not be relied as it was doubtful if she was present on the spot. They claimed the number of assailants was not clear and the conspiracy for the crime was also not proved.

Relying upon the version of victim’s daughter, the court noted that she was hiding after the incident, fearing for her life  and so she was not seen by other witnesses. Lakshmi claimed she was studying in her house when she heard a scream—save me. Realising that it was of her father, she went out of the gate and saw six-seven people stabbing her father with knife-like weapons.

The court grave credence to statement of witness Sayeed Ibrahim, a purse manufacturer, who knew all six convicts. He claimed he was a member of the Al-Umma movement which was a banned organisation and his job was to collect money for the undercover or arrested members of the organisation.

The Tamil Nadu Police filed charge sheet against 13 people in the case but the trial court exonerated six people and the state government did not challenge the order in the high court.