Soumya murder case: Kerala HC confirms death sentence on accused

December 17, 2013

Soumya_murder

Kochi, Dec 17: Kerala High Court today confirmed the death sentence awarded to Govindachamy by a Fast Track Court for brutally raping and causing the death of a 23-year-old woman after pushing her out of a moving train on February 1, 2008.

A division bench, comprising justices T Ramachandran Nair and B Kemal Pasha upheld the death sentence awarded by the FTC at Thrissur in November that year, saying "there is absolutely nothing to interfere in this case."

The bench also criticised the 'lukewarm' response of Indian Railways and the attitude of fellow passengers of the victim, who was returning home to Shornur from her workplace at Ernakulam, when the incident took place.

Pointing out there is no safety in ladies' compartments. the bench said that even after the incident, the compartment was at the rear end of the train.

The judges suggested the ladies compartment be placed in the middle section and two women guards be posted.

The bench held that the attitude of the fellow passengers was 'disgustful'. Had they offered a helping hand, this untoward incident could have been avoided.

It said there is need to create awareness among the public to rise to the occasion.Inaction of fellow passengers was more painful than the brutal action of the accused, the judges observed.

The prosecution case was that Gonvidachamy had pushed Soumya out of the compartment of the Ernakulam-Shornoor passenger train on Feb 1 after first trying to rob her. He then raped the seriously injured woman, who died on Feb 6.

The prosecution also pointed out that Govindachamy, a native of Tamil Nadu, had already been convicted in eight cases in that state.

The FTC had held the brutal rape was one of the reasons for the victim's death and that the nature of the crime was savage and had shocked society.

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Agencies
April 5,2020

Nagpur, Apr 5: A 23-year-old man allegedly committed suicide in Imambada area in Nagpur on Saturday due to financial distress, police said.

Nikhil Gavhane, who worked in a grocery shop, hanged himself as he had taken money from a person and was stressed over repayment, an official said.

"He was depressed since a week," the Imambada police station official said.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

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News Network
May 28,2020

Hyderabad, MAY 28: A three-year-old boy who accidentally fell into a newly drilled open borewell in Telangana's Medak district was found dead in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

The kid's body was retrieved at around 4 am after a nearly 10 hours' long rescue operation involving different agencies, they said.

"He died a while before we evacuated him, most likely due to the mud that covered him from the top sealing off necessary oxygen supply, " Medak District Superintendent of Police Chandana Deepti told PTI.

The boy had accidentally slipped into the 120- feet borewell at around 5 pm on Wednesday in an agricultural field located in Papannapet mandal of the district when he was walking with his grandfather and father, police earlier said.

As part of rescue efforts, a parallel trench was dug along the borewell hole with the help of earth excavating machines and oxygen was supplied into it, but the efforts went in vain as the boy's body was found stuck at a depth of around 25 feet, the police said.

Apart from the police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were also involved in the rescue operation.

The borewell into which the child fell was one among the three dug by the family since Tuesday night to try and find water for their fields. But none of them yielded any water, police had said.

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