Palakkad (Kerala), Jul 13: A court in Palakkad on Monday convicted a 61-year-old man in the sensational 2025 Nenmara double murder case.
Additional Sessions Judge Kenneth George found Chenthamara guilty of murdering Sudhakaran and his mother, Lakshmi, at Pothundi near Nenmara on January 27, 2025.
The court posted the case for the pronouncement of sentence on July 15.
Chenthamara had earlier been arrested for the 2019 murder of Sudhakaran’s wife Sajitha, whom he allegedly blamed for his marital problems.
After being released on bail in January 2025 in that case, he allegedly murdered Sudhakaran and Lakshmi.
Police arrested him shortly after the double murder, and he was later lodged in the Malampuzha sub-jail.
In the Sajitha murder case, the court had earlier sentenced Chenthamara to double life imprisonment.
During the trial in the double murder case, the prosecution examined 81 witnesses and produced 28 material objects before the court.
Four of Chenthamara’s relatives turned hostile during the trial.
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Sajitha’s daughters, Atulya and Akhila, alleged that Chenthamara had issued threats even inside the courtroom and demanded that he be awarded the death penalty.
“He should get the maximum punishment. Even in court, he said without any remorse to go ahead and hang him if they want to. We lost our father and grandmother. Everyone is gone. He must be given a punishment that fits his crime,” Akhila said.
Atulya said the family continued to live in fear.
“He is not afraid of anything. He must be given a punishment that fits his crime,” she said.
Saritha, a relative of Sajitha, said the convict had orphaned both the girls and appealed to the government to support them.
“We request the government to take responsibility for them. We hope the government will provide them with jobs. They have no one else now,” she said. (PTI)
