A notorious criminal, who stabbed to death a police constable and grievously injured another in June 2012, was today sent to jail for his entire life by a court here.
The Principal Sessions Court judge handed over this sentence to 52-year-old Varghese alias 'Aadu' Antony for stabbing to death officer Maniyan Pillai and another 15 years on various counts, which would run concurrently.
However, the judge made it clear that in the event of the government granting him remission, the 15 years prison term would operate consecutively from that date and he should have to undergo it separately.
The judge, who had on July 20 convicted Varghese, also imposed a fine of Rs 4.45 lakh on him.
He was charged with killing Pillai and grievously injuring Assistant Sub-Inspector K Joy when the two were on night patrol duty in the wee hours of June 26.
The fine amount would be distributed equally to Pillai's family and that of Joy, who was hospitalised for a year after the attack.
Varghese started off his crime graph by indulging in theft of livestocks, computers and is said to have married at least 20 women from various parts of the state by duping them.
After committing the murder, Antony, said to be involved in over 100 cases, went into hiding and was arrested by a special police team in October 2015 from Gopalapuram on the Kerala-TN border after a massive manhunt was launched across the country and Nepal to trace him.
A look out notice was issued by police and a 'Justice for Maniyan Pillai' campaign was launched on social media to trace the accused.
"This is a victory of team work of Kerala police," a senior official, who was part of the investigating team, said.
Former DGP T P Senkumar, during whose term the accused was arrested, said this was a challenging case.
Efforts of thousands of police personnel had borne fruit when the accused was nabbed three years after he committed the crime.
Reacting to the verdict, Pillai's wife Sandhya said the family was expecting a death sentence.
"The accused should not be freed at all," she said.
Prosecution produced 71 evidences and 52 witnesses to nail the accused.
Today also, media personnel were not allowed inside the court premises by the advocates as part of their agitation against media over coverage of a molestation case involving a government pleader at Kochi.
