Kin among 7 awarded life for killing MGR’s foster son-in-law

Eight-long years after the sensational murder transpired in Nandanam in Chennai, the Principal District Sessions Judge G Jayachandran, convicted all the seven persons for murder and sentenced them to uundergo life imprisonment. 

Additionally, the court has imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them. The seven convicted included Vijayan’s sister-in-law N Banu and a police constable Karuna who had hatched the conspiracy and masterminded the killing. 

According to the prosecution, Banu who had a running feud with her siblings over certain properties had suspected Vijayan of blocking her efforts in acquiring them. Deciding to do away with Vijayan, she conspired with constable Karuna to kill him. She paid him Rs 4 lakh and Karuna in turn hired five men to murder Vijayan. While two of the hired killers followed Vijayan’s car in a motorcycle, others tailed him in another car. 

The assailants in the car hit Vijayan’s vehicle twice and when he got down to question them, the other two hit him with an iron pipe, killing him. The incident happened on June 4, 2008, in the busy Turnbulls Road, in Nandanam. 

MGR’s widow Janaki Ramachandran had left behind a massive property worth over Rs 159 crore. MGR and Janaki did not have any children, but adopted eight of her brother’s children. MGR had willed his property to his wife, who in turn left it to a trust to be handled by MGR’s lawyer and later to be executed by Rajendran, another nephew of Janaki’s.