The Thiruvananthapuram Additional District and Sessions Court VI on Tuesday awarded rigorous life imprisonment to Poovachal native Priyaranjan for the murder of a class 10 student.

The court found the accused, Priyaranjan, a resident of ‘Bhoomika’ house in Pulinkode, Poovachal, guilty of deliberately ramming a car into the boy, Adishekhar, at Kattakada. In addition to the life sentence, the court imposed a fine of Rs.10 lakh.

Advertisement

According to the prosecution, the accused intentionally killed 15-year-old Adishekhar, son of Arun Kumar and Deepa of Poovachal by running him over in a premeditated act of revenge.

The incident stemmed from a confrontation in April 2023, when Adishekhar, questioned Priyaranjan for urinating on the wall of the Bhadrakali Temple in Pulinkode. The boy was about to leave on his bicycle when Priyaranjan, in a fit of rage, drove his car into him on August 30, 2023, killing him.

The incident was initially thought to be a road accident, but the parents of the boy expressed doubts and prompted the police to probe further. A witness informed the police that the boy had questioned Priyaranjan for urinating near a temple in the locality.

CCTV visuals obtained from the accident spot revealed that the boy was deliberately run over by the accused in vengeance.

The subsequent investigation by the police revealed that the accused had a previous enmity with Adi Shekhar. The police found that the enmity over Adi Shekhar’s questioning of the accused urinating on the temple wall led to the murder.