Double murder: Kerala HC commutes death sentence of accused

KOCHI: The HC bench of Justices P B Suresh Kumar and Johnson John on Friday commuted the death penalty awarded to Ninu Mathew, the first accused in the Attingal twin murder case, to life imprisonment without any remission for 25 years. The court also confirmed the double life imprisonment imposed on Anu Santhi, the second accused.

The order comes on the appeals filed by the accused and the death sentence review (DSR) filed by the state. The division bench upheld all the other sentences awarded to Ninu Mathew by the trial court.

The prosecution's case was that Ninu, of Attipra in Thiruvananthapuram and an IT professional at Technopark, was in a relationship with his colleague Anu of Attingal, who lived with her husband and family. The duo conspired to kill her husband Lijish and her daughter Swasthika, who was three-and-a-half years old, to live together.

On April 16, 2014, Ninu went to Lijish's house and brutally killed Omana, Anu's mother-in-law, and Swasthika. Lijish who arrived later on was also hacked but he survived the attack with injuries.

HC stated that the prosecution could establish the criminal conspiracy and sharing of common intention between the accused and upheld the sentence awarded to Anu. Even though the prosecution strongly argued for capital punishment for Ninu, citing it as 'rarest of rare', the bench considered the mitigating circumstances in the case.

The prosecution also contended that Anu had a major role in plotting the murders. She sent pictures of every nook and corner of the house and the pathway leading to the house to Ninu via mobile phone to plan the attack. It was also proven in the trial court that the duo had counted down each day leading to the murder.