Chennai: The Madras High Court on Friday upheld the life sentence awarded to eight people in connection with the murder of a Scheduled Caste engineering student Gokulraj in 2015 in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu on suspicion of his relationship with an uppercaste woman. The court had revised the charges against two other accused and ordered them imprisonment for five years.
Madurai Special Sessions Court had ordered life imprisonment till death to 10 people including Yuvraj, head of Theeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai Political party, in connection with the case in March 2022. They had then appealed against the judgement.
Gokulraj, an engineering student from Omalur in Salem district was murdered on June 24, 2015. He fell in love with a girl from a higher caste. His girlfriend Swathi was from the Kongu Velalar community and while visiting the temple with Gokulraj, the latter was murdered. His body was found on the railway track in Pallipalayam in Namakkal district.
Meanwhile, Gokulraj's mother had also appealed against the acquittal of five persons in the case. The hearing was held before a bench of Justices MS Ramesh and N. Anand Venkatesh. The counsel appearing for Yuvraj and others mentioned that the electronic evidence was not collected properly and the surveillance camera that was seized in the case did not have enough proof to substantiate the guilt. Also it was argued that the electronic evidence could have been tampered with and there was no evidence against his clients, the lawyer said.
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The lawyer appearing for the government argued that the murder of Gokulraj was premeditated and as the prosecution witnesses confirmed the murder, the punishment imposed on the culprits should be confirmed.
Meanwhile, Justices MS Ramesh and Anand Venkatesh inspected the Tiruchengode Ardhanareeswarar temple where Gokulraj was seen on June 23, 2015 with Swathi and the railway track where his body was found the next day.
A bench of Justices MS Ramesh and Anand Venkatesh, after hearing the case confirmed the life sentence imposed by the Special Court and dismissed their appeal.
