Kalpetta: Vishwanathan, the lone convict in the 2018 murder of a newly married couple in Wayanad, has been sentenced to death by the District Sessions Court at Kalpetta.

Judge V Harris pronounced the verdict on Monday afternoon. On Saturday the court had found Vishwanathan guilty.

The 48-year-old convict is a native of Thottilpalam in Kozhikode district.

Vishwanathan was found guilty of murder, loot, trespassing and destruction of evidence.

Ummer, 28, and his wife Fatima, 20, were found beaten to death in their bedroom at Poorinji near Makkiyad. They were found with injuries to their head and neck on July 6, 2018.

The couple were murdered as they resisted a robbery bid. The couple were asleep as Vishwanathan broke into the house that night. He tried to snatch a gold chain found on Fatima, but as she raised an alarm Ummer woke up. Both were soon done to death with an iron rod.

After confirming their deaths, Vishwanathan removed the jewellery and fled. He sprinkled chilli powder in the house and precincts before taking flight.

Vishwanathan was arrested in September that year by a special police team led by Deputy Superintendent Of Police K M Devasia.

Several migrant workers were initially questioned over the crime as Ummer was a member of the Tablighi Jamaat, a Sunni outfit in which such labourers were active.

The police initially found it difficult to establish if it was a murder for theft or out of personal enmity. No lethal weapon was recovered from the room or from the house though the crime was committed using a sharp weapon.

The kitchen door was found forcibly opened from outside. The police found chilli powder sprinkled near the door and in the bed room.