Thiruvananthapuram: Nine of those convicted in the sensational murder of Paul Muthoot George, a young Kerala businessman in 2009, have been awarded life terms. Four other accused in the case, were sentenced to three years each in prison for destroying evidence in the case.
The verdict was announced by a special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. The fourteenth accused in the case, Aneesh was acquitted.
The court was convinced of the charges of murder, ganging up and destruction of evidence. It was also convinced that the first nine accused in the case had direct roles in the murder of George, who hails from the well-known business family, Muthoot, in Kerala.
The murder happened on the Alappuzha-Changanacherry road in August, 2009, when Paul M. George was the executive director of the Muthoot group, one of the leading non-banking finance companies in India.
The nine accused who were sentenced to life terms in prison were Jayachandran, ‘Kari’ Satheesh, Zulfikar, Sabir, Sathar, J. Satheesh Kumar, R. Rajeev Kumar, Shino Paul and Faizal. The verdict was given by CBI special court judge, R. Raghu.
The prosecution case was that Paul M. George was murdered while the first accused Jayachandran was on a different mission, to attack one Sahmeer. The court considered the two cases together. The crux of the case was that while a team led by Jayachandran was proceeding to attack Shameer as per a contract undertaken by Jayachandran, there was a skirmish related to a bike accident, which led to the stabbing and murder of Paul M. George.
The vehicle of the gang led by Jayachadran is believed to have developed a snag on the way. A two-wheeler stopped to help the passengers in the car, and Paul M. George’s vehicle which passed by at that time is believed to have scraped the bike. George’s vehicle, however, proceeded without stopping.
Another vehicle which came to the scene carrying more gang members of Jayachandran followed George’s vehicle. The two sides got into an argument, at the end of which the gang members are thought to have knifed George to death.
The state police team that initially investigated the case said an S-shaped knife was used to stab George, and police later recovered one such knife. But controversy erupted soon after, when a blacksmith claimed he had been asked by police to make one such knife.
