Coimbatore: Two men were on Wednesday sentenced to double life imprisonment for murdering their 20-year-old drug peddler friend by slitting his throat in October 2005.
The convicts were identified as Sounderarajan, 22, and Vishnu alias Siva Vishnu, 20.
According to police, the duo, along with R Fernandez, of Ganapathy, gathered at a well in Maniyakarampalayam in October 2005, where a heated argument broke out between them that ended in exchange of blows.
“The duo slit Fernandez’s throat and dumped his body into the well. They covered it with poultry and meat waste to avoid any foul smell. They then covered the well completely with the construction debris over a couple of days,” the police said.
Fernandez’s parents, however, lodged a man missing case with the Sarvanampatty police station only on March 12, 2010. In her compliant, his mother Rajathi alias Prema Rani, 48, said she initially thought her son was serving some term in a prison. “She lodged the compliant when she realised that her son was missing,” the police said.
Meanwhile, the police had caught Sunderarajan in another case and came to know that he knew Fernandez. Through him, they caught Vishnu, who confessed to the crime and showed them the crime spot.
Police inspector Jothi, who was the investigating officer, retrieved the skeletal remains from the well and sent them for DNA tests, to confirm the identity of the deceased. Based on the report, the police changed the man missing case to murder and filed a chargesheet as well.
The case came up for hearing before the IV additional district judge M N Senthil Kumar on Wednesday and he sentenced the duo to double life imprisonment and also slapped on them a penalty of Rs 6,000 each.
