Kerala court sentences man to life imprisonment for brutally murdering family in 2017

Thiruvananthapuram | A Kerala court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for brutally killing four members of his family, including his parents and sister, at Nanthancode near here eight years ago.

The verdict was pronounced by Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions Court-VI judge Vishnu K.

The prosecution, during arguments on sentence, sought the death penalty for the accused, Cadell Jeanson Raja, but the court did not grant it, a senior police officer associated with the case told reporters.

According to advocate Dileep Sathyan, the prosecutor of the case, the court sentenced Cadell to a life sentence for each of the four murders, but said that the life terms shall run concurrently.

The court also sentenced the accused to seven years of imprisonment under section 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) and for five years under section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC and directed that the two punishments shall be served consecutively, the prosecutor said.

The court further said that the life terms shall commence after the 12 years are served, the prosecutor added.

It also imposed a total fine of Rs 15 lakh on the accused and directed that the amount be paid to his maternal uncle.

The detailed judgment giving reasons is awaited.

On 9 April 2017, Professor A Raja Thankam, his wife Dr Jean Padma (58), their daughter Caroline (26), and a relative, Lalitha (70), were found murdered at their house in the Baines Compound near the official residence of the Chief Minister of Kerala.

According to the police, Cadell brutally murdered his parents, sister, and a relative.

He has been in police custody since his arrest two days after the murders.

During the investigation, the accused had claimed that he believed in parapsychology and astral projection, and contended that these beliefs led him to carry out the killings.

However, the prosecution had argued that these claims were a strategy to avoid conviction.

The police had said that the initial plan was to kill his father, who had continuously neglected him, and that he subsequently went on to murder the others as well.