TIRUCHY: Thanjavur court on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to two persons for murdering a student over a love affair. S Manoj Kumar (19) from Vilar Road in Thanjavur who was pursuing a B.Tech second year in a private university in Thanjavur and went missing since December 28, 2013. Based on the complaint by Manoj Kumar’s father Sukumaran, Thanjavur Taluk police registered a case of missing. While searching they found the body of Manoj Kumar with several cut injuries and a case of murder was registered.

After an elaborate investigation, the police found that S Gopi alias Vedi Gopi (36) of Thillai Nagar in Thanjavur and K Muthu alias Prasanth (36) were involved in the murder and arrested the duo.

Manoj Kumar was in love with a girl and one of the accused Gopi was also in love with her. Since the girl continued her affair with Manoj Kumar, Gopi conspired to murder him. Judge R Sathia Thara of Thanjavur Additional District Court, who heard the case awarded life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each to both Gopi and Prasanth.