TN: 10 sentenced to life imprisonment for Dalit youth's murder

Chennai, March 8 A special court in Madurai on Tuesday sentenced 10 persons, including the first accused named Yuvaraj, to life imprisonment for the murder of a Dalit youth named Gokulraj in Namakkal in 2015.

District judge Sampath Kumar ordered that all the accused should serve life imprisonment until death.

Yuvaraj, who is the founder of a caste outfit named Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai, was awarded triple life imprisonment to be served concurrently.

The prime accused, Yuvaraj's driver Arun, and fellow accused S. Kumar alias Sivakumar, R. Sathishkumar, S. Raghu, D. Ranjith and D. Selvaraj have been awarded double life imprisonment.

Three other accused Giridhar, S. Chandrashekharan and M. Prabhu were awarded single life imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, Gokulraj, a Dalit youth from Omalur in Salem district, who was an engineering student, was kidnapped by a gang led by Yuvaraj on June 23, 2015, after he was seen speaking to a girl belonging to Gounder community at a temple in Tiruchengode. The next day his body was found on a railway track.

There were 17 accused in the case and the court acquitted seven while awarding life imprisonment to the remaining 10 men.

The mother of Gokulraj, Chitra, broke down in the court and pleaded that the accused be given the highest punishment that could be awarded.

The special public prosecutor, Bhavani S. Mohan, during his closing arguments urged the court to award the highest punishment to the accused citing the brutality involved in the killing of Gokulraj.

All the convicts broke down in the courtroom on hearing the judgment.