KOTTAYAM: A court in Mavelikkara in Alappuzha district on Tuesday sentenced a Bangladeshi national to death for murdering an elderly couple at their residence in Venmony near Chengannur in 2019.
Additional district judge Kenneth George pronounced the death sentence for the first accused in the case Lablu Hasan, 39, who hails from Bangladesh. However, the court exempted co-accused Juval Hasan, 24, from death sentence considering his young age at the time of crime and sentenced him to a life term.
The charges under IPC sections 302 (punishment for murder), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death) were proven against the accused persons in the court. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 4 lakh on both the accused.
AP Cherian, 76, and wife Elykutty Cherian, 68, were staying alone and the two accused joined the couple's house for domestic work. On Nov 7 they joined the couple's house. On Nov 10, Sunday, they realised the presence of a large amount of gold jewellery in the house as they saw Elykutty going to church wearing some of them. They murdered the couple the next day (November 11) and escaped with 45 sovereigns of gold and Rs 17,338 stolen from the house. The duo was arrested from Visakhapatnam railway station on Nov 13. tnn
