Mangaluru: Two get life sentence in 2016 Panambur murder case

Mangaluru, Feb 18: More than four years after the murder of a man in Panambur, two youths who were found guilty of murdering him, were sentenced to life imprisonment by Third Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Basappa Balappa Jakati.

The convicts are Nagaraj Govindappa Lamani (28) and Veeresh Shivappa Lamani (32), both from Ranebennur taluk. They were working as labourers and staying in a rented room in Hosangady in Manjeshwara taluk in Kasaragod district.

The duo had murdered Rekappa Lamani in Panambur in 2016. Rekappa was in fact Nagaraj's relative. The latter had even helped Rekappa find work in Hosangady.

However, Nagaraj became intimate with Rekappa’s wife. On learning about it, Rekappa decided to return to his native on September 4, 2016. Nagaraj, who got to know about it, decided to eliminate Rekappa. He took Rekappa to a bar in Mangaluru and made him consume alcohol.

Later, Nagaraj and his friend Veeresh took Rekappa to a secluded area in Panambur in an autorickshaw. The duo then strangulated Rekappa had smashed his head with a boulder. After committing the crime, Nagaraj reached Kuloor on a bike and later left for Hosangady.

The then inspector of Panambur police station Lokesh A-C had filed the charge sheet to court.

As many as 22 witnesses were produced before the court. Though there were no direct eyewitnesses in the case, the court had considered the circumstantial pieces of evidence. 

The statement of a man who had given him a drop till Kuloor in a bike, driver of an autorickshaw who had dropped him to Pumpwell from Kuloor, supervisor of the bar where they consumed alcohol, statement of the doctor who had conducted post mortem, bloodstains on the clothes worn by the accused, statement given by the Forensic lab experts about the soil found on the clothes worn by the accused and the soil test conducted from the spot where the body was found were recorded during the trial.

The Judge also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on each. Of the fine amount Rs 10,000 should be given to Rekappa Lamani’s wife, the court declared.