Lifer for murder, theft of gold jewellery

The man was found guilty of murdering his friend and stealing 348 sovereigns of gold jewellery from him. The victim S Selvam (35) of Trichy stayed at Balamurugan Nagar in Valaynkadu, Tirupur, and worked for a pawn broker there. 

The accused P Prabhu from Trichy was a friend of Selvam and used to visit him often. The police said that Prabhu came to know about the volume of jewellery pledged in the financial institution by going through the records and planned to murder Selvam. 

On July 4, 2015, Prabhu took Selvam to a lonely place, pushed him down and smashed his head with a big stone. Later, the accused gained entry into the financial institution, where he stole 348 sovereigns jewellery and fled the place. 

Velampalayam police found him guilty and arrested him.  The case was tried before the II-ADJ court, which awarded him life imprisonment for murder and seven years for theft to be served concurrently. A compounded fine of Rs 15,000 was also slapped on him.