Coimbatore: 55-year-old escapes noose, but dies of cancer
The Erode court awarded him death sentence, but a trial court acquitted him. After his release from the prison, he got married
COIMBATORE: A 55-year-old convict, who had escaped death rowafter getting a Presidential pardon, died of a rare type of bone cancer in the Coimbatore prison on Wednesday.
The 55-year-old convict, R. Govindasamy, was suffering fromchondrosarcoma, a tumour that affects bones and joints and startedvomiting blood on Wednesday.
He was rushed to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital where he died within a few minutes. “The convict died of chondrosarcoma which is a rare type of cancer,” said the hospital dean, Dr Edwin Joe.
A native of Kondayampalayam near Sathyamangalam in Erode district, Govindasamy was sentenced to death for killing his father’sbrother, aunt and their three children in sleep over a land disputein May 1984. Govindasamy was just 17-years-old when he committed themurder.
The Erode court awarded him death sentence, but a trial court acquitted him. After his release from the prison, he got married. But his freedom was short-lived as the Division Bench of the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court confirmed his death sentence. Govindasamy appealed for mercy from the President for commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment.