Neyyattinkara Additional District Sessions Court Judge A.M.Basheer sentenced three accused in the case of brutally murdering an elderly Hindu woman. In this case, the convicts are a mother, son, and friend who have been awarded the capital punishment.
The court sentenced Rafeeqa Beevi (51) of Vizhinjam Township Colony, son Shefiq (25) and Al Amin (27) of Palakkad Pattambi for murdering Shantakumari (74) at Vizhinjam on 14 January 2022. The accused lived on rent adjacent to Shantakumari’s house at Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram.
They murdered the lady who lived alone, stole her gold ornaments and hid the dead body. This conviction is the first time that a mother and her son have been sentenced to death in Kerala.
In the judgment, the judge noted that the accused did not deserve anything less than the death penalty. The court stated that the charges of conspiracy, destruction of evidence, murder and robbery against the accused have been proved beyond doubt.
On the day of vacating the rented house, the three criminals invited Shanthakumari to their home in the afternoon. Rafeeqa first hit Shantakumari on the head with a hammer. Al Amin hit the forehead and the back of the head again with the hammer and fractured the victim’s skull.
Then, Al Amin and Shefiq strangled and killed Shantakumari by using a dhoti. Five and a half sovereigns of gold ornaments were stolen from the dead body. The trio hid the body in the attic of the rented house as it was not possible to bury it.
After committing the horrendous crimes, the convicts then escaped from the area. The house owners found the body at night and informed the police.
The Vizhinjam police investigated the complaint and arrested the accused on the same night of the incident. The Vizhinjam SHO led the case investigation.
During the interrogation, it was revealed that they had similarly committed murder before. The police found out that these were the accused in the murder case of a differently-abled girl registered by the Kovalam police. It turned out to be the same group that killed the 14-year-old girl in 2020. The case is currently under trial.
Islamists have a habit of claiming victimhood when nobody rents them their property. Such incidents prove why landlords are reluctant to welcome them as tenants.
