Kottayam: The Additional Sessions Court here on Friday awarded the death penalty to convict Arun Sasi after finding him guilty of the gruesome murder of an elderly couple in Pazhayidom, near Manimala, a decade ago.
Additional Sessions Court Judge J Nazer also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on Arun (39), a resident of Choorapaddy in Pazhayidom, for hitting the elderly couple, Bhaskaran Nair (75) and Thankamma (69), with a hammer on their head and then suffocating them to death on August 28, 2013.
Arun is a relative of the victims. Both Bhaskaran Nair, a retired PWD Superintendent, and Thankamma, a retired KSEB employee, were found dead in their house at Chirakadavu panchayat in Pazhayidom on that fateful day.
The case
According to the case, Arun is the son of Thankamma’s brother and he indulged in the heinous crime to find money to buy a car. The couple’s bodies were found lying on the floor beside the staircase of the two-storey house.
During the investigation, the police found that Arun reached the couple’s house around eight pm. He first attacked Bhaskaran Nair, who was watching television and hit him to death using a hammer.
He even smothered the victim using a pillow to ensure his death. Hearing the commotion, the latter’s wife came running down from upstairs. However, Arun hit her too with the hammer at the back of her head.
Escape and chance capture
The accused then went into hiding. Even as a high-level team led by the then Ernakulam Range IG Padmakumar was probing the case, he fell into the police net in connection with a chain-snatching case and was arrested from Kanjikuzhy in Kottayam.
His interrogation in police custody led to the shocking revelation of the gruesome murder of the elderly couple.
Arun again went into hiding during the case trial but was caught by the Tamil Nadu police in connection with a robbery at a mall there. A special warrant was obtained to produce him before the Kottayam court from the central jail there.
The court found him guilty of the murders on Monday and pronounced the verdict today.