Kerala law student's murder accused held guilty

 A sessions court in Kerala on Tuesday found Ameerul Islam, a migrant labourer from Assam, guilty of the rape and murder of a young law student in 2016 in Ernakulam.

The special Ernakulam Principal Sessions court will announce the quantum of punishment on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old woman was found murdered in her house near here on April 28, 2016. Her mother, Rajeshwari, who works as a casual labourer, discovered her body.

The murder had taken place a month before the assembly elections, and the opposition had attacked the then Oommen Chandy government over the state of women's safety in Kerala.

The trial in the case lasted 80 days and the chargesheet runs into more than 1,500 pages.

The police cracked the case after conducting a successful DNA test to nail the accused. Trial in the case was conducted in-camera.

The mother, who was present in the court to hear the trial, told the media before the verdict that she wanted her daughter's killer to be hanged to death.

"I'm very happy with the verdict. I'm thankful to all who helped solve the case," she said later.

On the first day after Pinarayi Vijayan took over as Chief Minister in May 2016, the then state police chief was removed. Vijayan directed new police chief Loknath Behra to expedite the probe.

At the end of the probe, it was found that the first probe team appointed by the outgoing Chandy government had done a clean job for the subsequent team to go forward and record the arrest of the Assam native.

Counsel for the accused Aloor, told the media that this is the worst day for an innocent to be charged with murder and rape.

"We will now wait to hear the sentence and take appropriate action," said Aloor.

The weak link in the case according to Aloor is that the police have solely banked on circumstantial evidence. - IANS