MADURAI: The Principal Sessions Court in Madurai on Tuesday convicted a woman of murdering an advocate in Chennai and sentenced her to undergo life imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, Kamaraj, the advocate and son-in-law of former Union Health Minister Dalit Ezhilmalai, was murdered at Korattur in Chennai on August 28, 2014.

Korattur police in Chennai had filed a case against three persons, G Sri Kalpana, R Anandhan and S Karthick, under Section 302 r/w 34 of IPC.

Sri Kalpana, former president of the women’s wing of Puratchi Bharatham, Korattur unit, had purchased 1,400 sqft of land from Gopal for Rs 25 lakh. This led to a dispute between Kalpana and a few others.

Subsequently, she sought the help of advocate Kamaraj to handle the issue. Kamaraj, who was holding the land documents, frequently demanded money from her and, also prevented her from contacting the landowner. When she questioned Kamaraj over these issues, he threatened to kill her husband and son. Irked by this, she invited the advocate to her house in Korattur and killed him with the help of R Anandhan and S Karthick.

Though the initial trial in the murder case was conducted in the Ambattur JM court in 2015, later it was transferred to the Principal Sessions Court in Tiruvallur. Thereafter, following a Supreme Court order on July 20, 2015, the case was transferred to the Principal Sessions Court, Madurai on Sept 28, 2015.

After hearing both sides and on perusal of records, Sessions Judge S Sivakadatcham on Tuesday found prima facie against Kalpana and was guilty of murder. But Anandhan and Karthick were acquitted as the charges against them were not proven. The court sentenced Kalpana to life imprisonment, besides slapping a fine of Rs 5,000.