Chennai: Former DMK MLA Rajkumar and his associates have been sentenced to 10 years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 42,000 for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl from Peerumedu in Idukki district.
Those convicted include Rajkumar, his driver Mahendran and five others. An accused died while the case was on trial.
The sentence was awarded by a special court hearing cases against people's representatives. The girl was killed when she was working as a domestic help at the home of Rajkumar when he was the MLA from Perambalur in 2012.
She was brought to Chennai promising free education but was employed as a domestic help. The parents of the girl were estate workers. Within five days of her arrival, the girl called her father on phone and pleaded with him that she be brought back.
Later, her father was informed that she was in hospital. The police initially attempted to write off the case as suicide but on the complaint of relatives, E S Bijimol. MLA. got involved and a postmortem revealed that she had been raped. Though a case was registered by the Kerala Police against Rajkumar, further probe leading to his conviction was carried out by Perambalur Police and the CBCID (Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department).
