Convicts in Aju murder case get lifer

ALAPPUZHA: The district sessions court  on Friday awarded life sentence to  all the seven accused in the Aju murder case.  Judge R. Sudhkaran had found them guilty   under section 302 of IPC on Wednesday.  The accused  are Shiji Joseph, 44, Joseph Antony, 26, Vijesh, 28,  Nishad , 29 , Simon V. Jack, 30,  Thomas Kutty, 34, and  Sinu Varghese, 25.  Aju, son of Sivanandan, Vydehi house, Kalath, was killed on the night  of November 16, 2008.

He was an AIYF activist and assistant manager with a private bank. The murder took place on the premises of  Sree Rama temple, Thoppuveli. According to the prosecution,  he was killed  as per the direction of the first accused Shiji Joseph. His employees (the accused second to seven) attacked Aju and his friend  Abhilash as Abhilash had refused to give the house construction contract to Shiji.