CHENNAI: Two illicit sand miners were on Friday convicted and awarded life imprisonments in connection with the Village Administrative Officer (VAO) murder case.
While convicting, the Principal District Judge, Thoothukudi, also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 each on the accused R. Ramasubramanian (33), and his accomplice M.Marimuthu (35) for murdering Murappanaadu VAO Y.Lourdhu Francis (56) on April 25.
Mr. Francis had been taking steps to check illegal sand quarrying in his jurisdiction. The incident had sent shock waves across Tamil Nadu. Mr.Francis had been sending reports to the police as well as to his higher authorities about the illicit sand miners operating in areas under his jurisdiction, and had earned the enmity of the two miners.
On April 25, two men barged into his office and hacked at him, leaving him grievously injured. He succumbed to injuries at the Government Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. The murder had triggered an uproar among revenue officials.
Acting swiftly, the Murappanaadu police arrested Ramasubramanian, an illicit sand miner from nearby Kaliyaavoor, and Marimuthu and the duo were subsequently detained under the Goondas Act.
Preliminary investigations revealed that both of them were actively involved in illicit sand mining along the Tamirabharani river bed as demand for river sand is heavy in this region.
Mr Francis had earlier survived an attempt on his life. When he was the VAO of Adichanallur, he ensured the removal of an encroachment upon government poramboke land, as the government had identified this land to set up a museum to display artefacts retrieved during the ongoing Adichanallur excavations.
Enraged over this, the encroachers had tried to murder him, but he had escaped.