Kannur (Kerala) | A court in Kerala sentenced a man to life imprisonment on Monday for the brutal murder of a 21-year-old woman pharmacist at her home near Panur in this district in 2022.
On Friday, the Thalassery Additional District Sessions Court found Shyamjith guilty of killing Vishnupriya.
The public prosecutor said on Monday that the convict was handed life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2 lakh was slapped on him.
He was also sentenced to 10 years and fined Rs 25,000 for house trespass in order to commit the crime. The sentences will run concurrently, the PP told the media.
Her emotional relatives welcomed the verdict, saying, "We are grateful to all." Shyamjith killed the woman on October 22, 2022, as she had ended their friendship and was close to another man.
The prosecution case was that the man came to Vishnupriya's house armed with a hammer and other weapons when her family had gone to attend a funeral.
She was on a video call with a male friend when Shyamjith entered the home.
This was recorded in the video call, and the 13-second-long footage was crucial evidence in the case.
Besides that, the prosecution also relied on CCTV visuals of Shyamjith purchasing the weapons used to commit the crime.
According to the prosecution, Shyamjith first hit Vishnupriya on the head with a hammer, and when she fell down, he slit her throat.
Even after she had died, he continued to stab her, resulting in 29 wounds on her body, the prosecutor said.
Vishnupriya was found lying in a pool of blood with a slit throat and deep wounds on her neck and hands at her residence on October 22, 2022.
Within hours of the gruesome murder, police arrested Shyamjith, a native of nearby Manantheri.
