TIRUCHY: A 42-year-old man, who confessed to having killed seven people besides the one murder he was arrested for, was awarded life imprisonment by a court in Tiruchy on Monday. His victims included his father and a local politician.

T Sappani of Krishnasamudram in Tiruchy was arrested on September 28, 2016, for murdering Thangathurai (34), a businessman from Vengur.

During interrogations, Sappani shocked the police by confessing to having committed seven more murders, including his father Thekkan (75), and an AIADMK councillor S Kumaresan (47) from Balakrishnanpatti Town Panchayat in Uppiliapuram.

Police said Sappani befriended his victims who possessed money or jewels and take them to the Sekkuparai Ayyanar temple close to a canal where he murdered them. Officials said Sappani murdered a senior citizen from Koothappar in Tiruchy in 2009, while the other murders happened between 2012 and 2016.

What shocked them even more was to find that Sappani had murdered these people for the meager money or the jewels they were carrying.

After the hearing, the Principal District Court judge K Babu sentenced Sappani to life imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000.