Mangaluru: The Sixth Additional District and Sessions Court convicted a 31-year-old man to 8 years rigorous imprisonment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, in connection with the death of a daily wager at Central Railway Station in the year 2014.
Sessions Court judge D T Puttarangaswamy, while citing the circumstances and evidence on record on Tuesday, October 30, held that the accused Malathesh, a resident of Thavaratheppa in Soraba Taluk in Shivamogga district, may have committed the crime, but had no intention to kill the victim Jayaraj (27), a resident of Jalligudde, Bajal. As such Malathesh was liable for punishment under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) as against Section 302 (punishment for murder), the court held.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on the convict and ordered him to undergo an additional two months of imprisonment in the event of failure to deposit the fine. Public Prosecutor Judith O M Crasta examined 16 witnesses in support of the prosecution’s case during the trial for the offense of murder.
According to the prosecution, Malathesh was working as a conductor in a private bus and victim Jayaraj was a daily wager. Both were friends and also engaged in pickpocketing and theft. A quarrel erupted between them at the Central Railway Station, over an issue of disbursing amount which they earned through pickpocketing, on the late night of October 1, 2014, at around 1.40 AM.
When Jayaraj confronted Malathesh on his aggressive behavior and tried to stab him with a knife, Malathesh grabbed the knife from Jayaraj’s hand and stabbed him on his chest. Bleeding profusely, Jayaraj collapsed on platform number 1 and Malathesh fled the spot, throwing the knife near Railway quarters. When the stationmaster found the body of Jayaraj at around 2.30 AM, he informed the Railway Police. After gathering information, the then inspector of Railway Police Tharanath succeeded in arresting Malathesh from his native place Shivamogga on October 21, 2014.
Malathesh murdered his wife too, after securing bail
Sources from the district court also informed that though Malathesh was arrested after this incident, he had succeeded to secure bail. Later, he went to his native place Thavaratheppa and murdered his wife in the very next year 2015. Again he was arrested and convicted with life imprisonment in connection with the murder of his wife. He was also involved in the murder of one, Gafoor of Sullia, which took place in Bejai, Anegundi in the year 2006.
