Kannur: The Thalassery Additional District Court I on Monday sentenced Shyamjith, the lone accused in the 2022 Vishnupriya murder case, to life imprisonment. The court awarded a sentence of 10 years and fine of Rs 2 lakh to the accused. The quantum of sentence was announced by Additional District Court Judge AV Mridula.
He faced charges under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 449 (House-trespass in order to commit offence) and 302 (Murder). On October 22, 2022, Shyamjith entered 23-year-old Vishnupriya's house and stabbed her to death for rejecting his marriage proposal. Vishnupriya, who was a pharmacist, suffered severe wounds on the hands and throat.
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The trial in the case began on September 21, 2023. The defence had presented its arguments before the Thalassery Additional District Court judge. There are 73 witnesses in the case.
Panoor Inspector M P Azad investigated the case and submitted the chargesheet. As per the chargesheet, Vishnupriya ended her relationship with Shyamjith after a quarrel. This incident pushed the accused to commit the crime.
On the day of the incident, Vishnupriya, who was going to her workplace, returned home after hearing about the death of a close relative. When Shyamjith reached her house, she was alone there as her parents had gone to the deceased relative's house. Once the accused confirmed there was nobody else at home, he barged in through the front door and stabbed her multiple times.
It was Vishnupriya's mother who found her lying in a pool of blood after she went looking for her daughter who wasn't responding to any of the calls and was yet to turn up at the relative's house.
Shyamjith's reaction to being arrested indicated he had no remorse for his actions. He, at the time, said: "I'm only 25 years old. A life sentence is only 14 years, isn't it? I've seen it on Google. I'll only be 39 years old when I finish my sentence. I'll have lost nothing."