Chennai, March 8 (BPNS)

A special court for trial cases registered under the SC/ST (Protection of Atrocities) Act in Madurai on Tuesday sentenced ten people including the first accused Yuvaraj to life imprisonment in the murder of Gokulraj in Namakkal in 2015. The third district judge, Sampath Kumar ordered that all the accused should serve life imprisonment until death.

Yuvaraj who is the founder of the caste outfit, Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai was awarded triple life imprisonment which 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 the gang led by Yuvaraj on June 23, 2015, while he was seen speaking to a girl belonging to Gounder community at a temple in Tiruchengode. The next day his body was seen at a railway track.

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

Mother of Gokulraj, Chitra broke down in the court and pleaded before the court 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.