The Principal District and Sessions Court, Tiruppur, on Tuesday, sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for murdering a man in 2018.
Judge Swarnam J. Natarajan sentenced the accused -- Balaguru, 40, and Nagarathinam, 34 -- to life imprisonment for murdering T. Anand, a native of Mudalipalayam. The duo was convicted under sections 302 (punishment for murder), 347 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 361 (kidnapping and abducting in order to murder), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code. The judge also imposed a fine of ₹ 4,000 on them.
District Public Prosecutor S. Kanagasabapathy told The Hindu that Anand ran an oil mill in Kunnampalayam. On October 4, 2018, Anand’s father got a call from unidentified persons that his son was kidnapped. Later, Anand was found dead in a house.
Based on a complaint from the victim’s father, the Uthukuli police registered a case. The police arrested Balaguru and Nagarathinam, both acquaintances of the victim, on charges of murder in July 2019.
One more accused involved in the incident, identified as Raja Muhammed, 41, went absconding, and a search was on to arrest him, said the police.