The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court Wednesday upheld the death sentence of a 30-year-old man convicted for killing a college girl and her lover after raping her near Suruli hills in Theni district in 2011.
Delivering the verdict, Justices R Subbiah and B Pugalendi noted that the accused, Diwakar, had also cut off the girl's limbs after killing her.
"It was a brutal act on the helpless young couple, that too after raping the girl. The savageness of the act was shocking and such a person will be a menace to the society," they said.
Besides, Diwakar had earlier attacked a constable with a knife when he attempted to arrest him in a criminal case.
The court said the case fell in the category of rarest of rare case and the accused deserved the death sentence.
A trial court in Theni had sentenced Diwakar to death in March 2018, saying the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.