Kasargod: Perla double murder - Convict sentenced to life imprisonment
Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod
Kasargod, Nov 21: The man convicted in the sensational Perla double murder case was on Thursday November 21 sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by the additional district and sessions court II here.
Imam Hussain (50), hailing from Sagar in Shimoga, was convicted on Tuesday November 19 of murdering Srikrishna Bhat and his wife in Devaloka, Perla back in 1993.
Imam Hussain
Murdered couple's three sons (first, third and last) with relatives
Judge Balan, delivering the verdict, also ordered Imam to pay a penalty of Rs 1.5 lac to the murdered couple's three sons, who are now grown up.
During the hearing on Thursday, he pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he has six children out of whom five are girls staying in a rented house.
The incident had occurred on October 9, 1993. Imam Hussain had murdered Srikrishna Bhat and his wife, who had seen his advertisement in a paper and consulted him. At that time he was staying at a lodge in Mangalore where he was practising black magic and astrology.
He was absconding for 19 years despite police efforts to nab him. He was finally arrested in Nelamangala near Bangalore on April 20, 2012.
The investigating team, unable to find the accused, had given up the search. The Badiadka police had investigated the incident in the beginning but made no progress. Though the search continued at a fast pace, Hussain could not be traced.
The case was taken over by the crime branch in 2008 which gathered information on the movements of the accused. The accused however used to get information on police raids in advance which enabled him to hide in different places under different disguises.
The accused was known by various names in Karnataka, Maharashtra and other states. The police team had gone to Shimoga to find him, but he had escaped with a whisker as the information got leaked. He then started working in Bangalore as a street vendor by the name Tajuddin.
However, he was arrested on April 20, 2012 after 19 years. The court has pronounced its verdict after one and half years of court arguments. Even though there were 68 witnesses in the beginning, they were reduced to 39 by the time the trial began.
The accused was subjected to identification parade at Kasargod sub jail and the witnesses clearly identified him.
The police team had also gathered information from the lodge in Mangalore where he had stayed. The children of the victims, Muralikrishna, Niranjan and Sudarshan were 13, 11 and six years old at the time of the crime. The children had come to know of their parents' murder only the next day as they had slept in separate rooms.
Niranjan had got up at 5.30 am and called his mother. When he screamed when there was no response, Muralikrishna and Sudarshan also got up. Their mother’s body was found in the room but the father was found missing. The children who got scared, ran to the house of relative Mahalinga Bhat and informed him. The dreadful incident then came to light.
Srikrishna Bhat’s body was found in a ditch in between plantations covered in mud and his wife’s body was found in a strangulated state in the room. Items used for black magic were found in the house. A hen was one of the important evidences to the crime. Imam Hussain had brought it for offering. It was with the police for several years and died in course of time. Besides that, a visiting card found in the house gave clear details of Imam Hussain.
The couple was murdered by Imam Hussain under the belief that there was treasure in the premises of their house. Imam Hussain was accused of six crimes including murder, robbery, conspiracy to robbery, illegal trespass, break-in and destruction of evidence.
The three sons of the deceased couple were present in the court to hear the verdict.