Chennai: More than seven years after the brutal killing of popular city based neurosurgeon Dr S D Subbaiah due to a family land dispute by a hired mercenary gang the First Additional Sessions Court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced seven of the ten accused to death sentences and two others to double life terms.
The seven convicted included two advocates. Delivering the verdict, Additional Sessions Judge-1 S Alli acquitted another accused after he turned an approver and was treated as a
prosecution witness.
The surgeon was brutally hacked by his relatives over a property dispute with the help of a hired gang in broad daylight in front of his residence on 14 September, 2013 and he succumbed to injuries afrer battling for life for nine days at a hospital.
After the murder, police based on the CCTV footages, arrested Dr James Satish Kumar and henchmen Murugan, Selvaprakash, Iyappan, school teacher Ponnusamy, his wife P Mary Pushpam and their sons P Basil, who is a lawyer, P Boris and Yesurajan.
The prime accused advocate B Williams, who went underground and surrendered before a court about five years after the incident took place.
After completion of the trial, the Judge had reserved her orders for Tuesday. Since two of the accused could not appear before the court due to health complications, the orders were pronounced Wednesday.
Earlier, in the day, the Judge convicted nine of the 10 accused on the ground that the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Later, pronouncing the quantum of punishment in the evening, the Judge awarded double capital punishment to seven accused–Ponnusamy, Basil, Boris, Williams, Dr James Satish Kumar, Murugan and Selvaprakash for offences under Secs 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
Two other accused–Mary Pushpam and Yesurajan–were awarded double life terms, while Iyappan was acquitted after he turned an approver.
According to Iyappan, a property dispute at Anjugramam village in Kanyakumari district between the doctor and the prime accused Ponnusamy, who is a relative of the surgeon, led to the murder.