Kochi: The Ernakulam Special POCSO Court, which earlier today found Sanu Mohan guilty of murdering his 13-year-old daughter Vaiga in the sensational case that shocked the state in 2021, sentenced him to life imprisonment and 28 years rigorous imprisonment for other charges, including kidnapping, drugging and destroying evidence.

Delivering the verdict, Judge K Soman ordered that Sanu serve the 28-year imprisonment first followed by the life sentence. He was also directed to pay a fine of Rs 1,70,000. Though Sanu pleaded for leniency in his sentence citing there was nobody to look after his 70-year-old mother, the court was not willing to consider it. The prosecution had asked the court to consider the case as rarest of the rare and sentence Sanu to death.

Police filed a 236-page chargesheet in the case on July 9, 2021, laying the entire blame for the death of Vaiga on her father Sanu. According to police, Sanu hatched a plan to murder Vaiga and flee to escape his creditors and start a new life. He also tried to stage a suicide bid to mislead the investigation, the chargesheet stated. Sanu had told the police that he had tried to take his own life after killing Vaiga. However, the police found that he was lying.

The case
Vaiga was found dead by drowning in the Muttar River in Kochi on March 22, 2021. The previous day, Sanu had visited a relative’s house in Alappuzha along with his wife and Vaiga. After leaving his wife there, Sanu returned to his flat at Kangarappady, Kochi, with Vaiga. Sometime later, Sanu and Vaiga were seen leaving the apartment.

Subsequently, both of them went missing and a complaint was filed by some relatives with the police. While an investigation was launched for Sanu and his daughter, Vaiga’s body was located in the river. The police soon realized that Vaiga had been murdered and circumstantial evidence showed that only Sanu could have committed the crime. Clues also indicated that he had fled from Kerala. A massive manhunt was launched for Sanu in various places, including other states before he was arrested from Karwar in Karnataka.