Man awarded death penalty for murdering wife, raping daughter

According to prosecution, Murugesan (54) of Thenipatti near Pudukkottai, has three wives and 11 children. He had been sexually assaulting his 17-year-old daughter born to his second wife Banumathi (50) from 2017 for around 2 years. He had also threatened his daughter of dire consequences if she revealed the torture to anyone in the family. However, he continued to sexually assault the girl and in 2019 she narrated her plight to her mother Banumathi, who informed the abuse to the first wife and both reprimanded Murugesan. 

Instead of correcting himself, Murugesan turned furious after the warning and decided to murder his second wife, whom he saw as a troublemaker and hindrance to his activities. As planned, Murugesan dropped a boulder on Banumathi’s head, while she was grazing cattle at Thennandirayanpatti in RS Pathy reserved forest area and killed her. When confronted by family members, he told them that she went missing. He also lodged a missing complaint with the Ganesh Nagar police. Later, the body of Banumathi was found in the RS Pathy forest region in a pool of blood. Police retrieved the body and sent it to the GH for post-mortem. 

Meanwhile, the police during investigations found out that Murugesan had been sexually assaulting his daughter and killed his wife Banumathi. Subsequently, Murugesan was booked under various sections, including POCSO Act and was arrested. The trial in the case was held in Pudukkottai Mahila Court and on Thursday, judge Sathya awarded death penalty to Murugesan besides directing the government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the affected girl.