Palakkad, July 13: “Hang me if you want. I don’t mind. If necessary, I would eliminate more people. I am not Gandhiji.” Those chilling words from convicted murderer Chenthamara echoed through the courtroom on Monday. The speech came moments after the Palakkad Additional Sessions Court found him guilty in the sensational Pothundi double murder case that had shocked Kerala.
When the judge asked whether he had anything to say before sentencing, the convicted killer showed neither remorse nor regret. Instead, he justified his actions, telling the court that if the judge had endured what he had gone through, “you too might have done what I did,” before adding, “Award whatever punishment you think fit.”
The court will pronounce the sentence on Wednesday. The verdict brings to a close the trial in one of Kerala’s most gruesome revenge killings. Chenthamara had been charged with the murders of Sudhakaran and his 75-year-old mother Lakshmi, at Pothundi in Palakkad district on January 27, 2025.
The murders were the culmination of a vendetta that began in 2019, when Chenthamara hacked to death his neighbour Sajitha, blaming her for the breakdown of his marriage. Convicted in that case and sentenced to double life imprisonment, he was released on bail in 2022. According to the prosecution, Chenthamara violated his bail conditions and secretly returned to Pothundi to exact further revenge.
Armed with a billhook that he had procured in advance, he allegedly hacked Sudhakaran to death outside his house. Lakshmi, who rushed out after hearing her son’s cries, was also fatally attacked. After the killings, Chenthamara fled into the nearby Mattayi forest, where police arrested him following an intensive two day search. Investigators later revealed that the double murder was only part of a larger plan.
They alleged the hit list included his estranged wife, daughter, police officer son-in-law, brother-in-law and three other women from the locality. The prosecution’s 480 page chargesheet, backed by forensic and scientific evidence, proved decisive even though four of the 132 witnesses turned hostile during the trial.
Outside the court, Sudhakaran’s family renewed their demand for the death penalty, saying they continue to live in fear and that nothing less would deliver justice for a crime that horrified Kerala. Pushpa one of the key witness in the double murder said she and her terrorised family have been living in Tamil Nadu for the past 15 months as they fear for their lives. “He should be hanged to death,” said Pushpa.
IANS
