CHENNAI: Death penalty awarded to two persons found guilty of committing a triple murder in Salem in 2005, was commuted to life imprisonment by the Madras High Court on Wednesday. Another person sentenced to death by the sessions court was acquitted of all charges.
A Division Bench, comprising Justice R. Balasubramanian and Justice S.K. Krishnan, passed the order in the case, which had been referred to the High Court for mandatory confirmation of death sentence.
Silver merchant, Mohanrao, his wife Sheela and son Prabu were murdered by the gang on November 9, 2005. After hacking to death all the three members of the family, the gang members decamped with over 160 sovereigns of gold ornaments, besides Rs. 22,000 in cash and over 33 kg of silver and gold articles.
First Additional Sessions Judge of Salem D. Krishna Raja found G. Loganathan, R. Sankar and S. Kumar guilty on various counts, including murder, and sentenced them to death. The Bench confirmed the conviction of Loganathan and Sankar, but modified the sentence.
Acquitted
It acquitted Kumar of all charges. The judges said the accused were convicted mainly on the basis of circumstantial evidence. There was nothing to suggest that all the three had uniformly contributed to the offence.
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