He had murdered five persons including a girl in Kollegal in May 2015

Chamarajanagar: The Supreme Court has stayed the death sentence of a murder convict, who had brutally killed five persons including an eight-year-old girl in May 2015 at a village in Kollegal taluk near here.

The accused, identified as 49-year-old Murugeshan, a native of Periyarnagar in Mettur taluk in Tamil Nadu, was found guilty of the crime by the Chamarajanagar Principal District and Sessions Court which had sentenced him to death on July 18, 2017.

He was found guilty of killing Rajendran (36), Rajamma (36), Rajamma’s daughter Roja (8), Kashi alias Shivakumar (38) and Shivamma (37) on the night of May 12, 2105.

Questioning the judgement, the counsel for Murugeshan had filed a petition at the High Court, which had upheld the judgement of Chamarajanagar Principal District and Sessions Court on Oct. 25, 2017, following which a petition was filed at the Supreme Court.

The Three-Judge Bench, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who heard the arguments, has stayed the death sentence.

The victims were part of a group of 15 agricultural labourers from Andhiyur in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district, who had been brought by Rajendran, a contractor, to work in the sugarcane farm at Harale village in Kollegal taluk.

On the fateful night, when the labourers had retired for the day with a few even sleeping under the skies, Murugeshan killed Rajendran and Rajamma with a sickle and hacked Kashi and Shivamma before killing Roja for seeing him commit the crime, according to Police investigation.

The investigations had revealed that Murugeshan, who had separated from his wife, was eyeing Rajamma, one of the victims, but the latter had spurned his advances and was having an illicit relationship with Rajendran. Similarly, Shivamma was having an affair with Kashi. Murugeshan was upset over the illicit relationship between the two couples.

Though Murugeshan had tried to flee to Tamil Nadu soon after committing the crime, the Kollegal Rural Police had nabbed him in Hanur on May 13, 2015.