Murder for silver: Man sentenced to life

Mysore/Mysuru: The city’s Third Additional District and Sessions Court has sentenced a man to rigorous life imprisonment after finding him guilty of murdering his employer and stealing 14 kg of silver bars.

The deceased has been identified as Govinda, a silversmith from Bankli village in Sumerpur taluk of Pali district, Rajasthan. The convict, Arjunkumar alias Arjun, also hails from Pumava village in the same taluk.

The motive, crime: Govinda was entrusted with minor works of the Sumatinath Jain Mandir Trust at Halladakeri in Mysuru and was residing in a room on the second floor of the Trust-owned Jnana Mandira building. Arjun was staying with him.

As the Trust required a silver throne for the temple, it had asked Govinda to prepare a silver covering for a wooden throne. On April 22, 2022, the Trust handed over 14 kg of silver bars, donated by devotees, to Govinda, who kept them in his room. On April 28, 2022, Govinda was found dead in the room with injuries to his head and face, with a ceiling fan placed on his head. Arjun was found missing, prompting the Trust to lodge a complaint with the Lashkar Mohalla Police.

Missing silver bars: During the investigation, the Police found that the silver bars were missing and that the ceiling fan had been removed earlier for repairs and was lying on the floor, ruling out an accidental fall.

Further investigation revealed that Arjun had planned to steal the silver bars. On April 26, 2022, while Govinda was asleep, Arjun struck him on the head seven to eight times with a wooden plank, killing him.

To make the murder appear accidental, he placed the ceiling fan on Govinda’s head before fleeing to his native village in Rajasthan with the silver bars.

Chargesheet, trial

The then Lashkar Inspector P.P. Santosh conducted the investigation and filed a charge sheet against Arjun. After the trial, Judge Gururaj Somakkalavar found the accused guilty and sentenced him to rigorous life imprisonment under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Court also imposed a fine of Rs. 5,000.

In default of payment of the fine, the convict will have to serve additional one year of imprisonment. The Court further sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 3,000 for destruction of evidence, with an additional three months of simple imprisonment on failing to pay the fine.

Public Prosecutor T.H. Lolakshi appeared for the State.