Thoothukudi doctor murder: Life term upheld

A petition filed by an auto driver R Mahesh (27) of Avudaiyarpuram, Thoothukudi, and four others accused in the case seeking to quash the life sentence came up for hearing before the division bench of Justices MM Sundaresh and N Sathishkumar on Tuesday.

After hearing the petition, the bench confirmed the life sentence for prime accused Mahesh and quashed the life sentence of the four other accused in the case. The Thoothukudi Fast Track Mahila Court had on September 4, 2015, sentenced the five men, accused of murdering T Sethulakshmi (55), chief doctor of ESI Hospital, Thoothukudi, to undergo life imprisonment. Five other accomplices were sentenced to undergo one year imprisonment.

The woman doctor was hacked to death by the armed gang in her clinic at Kamaraj Nagar in Thoothukudi on January 2, 2012. The Thoothukudi South police had filed a case in this regard. The prime accused R Mahesh, irked over the death of his pregnant wife Nithya (24), had committed the murder with his friends.

On December 30, 2012, Mahesh took Nithya, who was 24 weeks pregnant and in a “serious condition” to Dr Sethulakshmi’s clinic. While undergoing treatment, Nithya developed complications and died. Mahesh, P Marimuthu (27), N Raja alias Maharaja (30), I Abbas Maraikayar (23) and P Vellaiyan alias Chinnadurai (24) — all from Avudaiyarpuram, had attacked Dr Sethulakshmi killing her after trespassing into the consulting room of her clinic at 9.45 pm on that day.