Thiruvananthapuram: A court in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram Monday handed the death sentence to 24-year-old S.S. Greeshma for murdering her boyfriend Sharon Raj by poisoning him in 2022. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 4 lakh on the convict.
Pronouncing the verdict, the Neyyattinkara Additional District Court Judge Basheer A.M. said it was a “rarest of rare” crime. “Greeshma killed Sharon inch by inch,” the verdict said, adding the accused left a large amount of evidence in her cloud account.
The case pertains to the death of Sharon Raj, a resident of Thiruvananthapuram’s Parassala. As per the prosecution, Greeshma, a resident of Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari, was in a relationship with the then 23-year-old Sharon.
She wanted to end the affair after her family arranged her marriage with an Army personnel from Tamil Nadu’s Nagercoil, the prosecution said.
Sharon, however, refused, prompting Greeshma and her family to plot the murder. On 14 October, 2022, Greeshma invited Sharon to her house and served him an ayurvedic tonic laced with Paraquat, a herbicide.
Sharon died 11 days later from multiple-organ failure at a medical college in Thiruvananthapuram. He was a BSc student of Radiology at a Kanyakumari college while Greeshma was pursuing post graduation in Literature in the institute.
The court had Friday found Greeshma and her uncle guilty of the murder. Uncle Nirmalakumaran Nair, who was the third accused, was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment for destruction of evidence. Greeshma’s mother Sindhu, the second accused, was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The nearly 600-page verdict noted that Sharon underwent a lot of pain during the 11 days after the poison was administered. “On a perusal of several medical records, it’s discernible that he could not even drink a drop of water for days,” it said.
The prosecution also argued that Greeshma had tried to poison him by mixing paracetamol tablets in a juice last August, egging him on to a “juice challenge” that Sharon refused to participate in. A video of that was shot by Sharon.
“Being an attempt of murder earlier and murder later, after breaching trust and love is a rarest of rare case and hence the convict must be given capital punishment,” the judge said in the verdict.
Greeshma was found guilty under Sections 302 (punishment for murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 364 (kidnapping or abducting to murder), 328 (causing hurt by poison), and 203 (giving false information on committed offence).
The court also praised the state police for a “brilliant” investigation on the evidence produced, including digital and forensic proof.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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