KOLLAM: Additional District and Sessions Court here on Thursday sentenced a woman and her lover to life imprisonment for the murder of her husband. The judge, Shirley Dutt, convicted Susheela and Selvaraj of Thekketheri in Pattazhi for killing Suresh of Irungoor in Melila here.
According to the verdict, Selvaraj, an employee with the KSEB, strangled Suresh on March 17, 2013, in a rubber plantation at Thekketheri and buried the body there. He also destroyed his mobile sim card on the spot to leave no traces. He later exhumed the body and disposed of in a sewage canal.
Suresh had visited Susheela’s sister Mani on the pretext of taking part in a local temple festival in an autorickshaw owned by Selvaraj. He strangled him using a dhoti and wire of a stereo player in the autorickshaw. Following this, Suseela filed a man missing complaint at the Kunnicode police station.
As his relatives raised doubts, he exhumed the body and dumped in a sewage canal in another rubber plantation near KIP canal at Thalavoor. He carried the partially decayed body in a sac and transported it in a car.
Residents found the body leading to the arrests. Selvaraj also attempted suicide by slitting his throat using a blade after the police caught him. Police relied on scientific pieces of evidence to prove the case in the absence of eyewitness. Police had retrieved conversations between the two on the phone planning the murder and destroying evidence.
Police also verified that the handwriting of a letter found near the body to be of Selvaraj, intentionally put to divert the attention. During the trial, the court examined 48 witnesses, 61 records, and 31 other objects.
