Thiruvananthapuram : The second and third accused in the murder of radio jockey Rajesh Kumar(34) back in 2018, were sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment and Rs 3 lakh each in fine. The conviction was pronounced by Additional Sessions Court Thiruvananthapuram that had found Muhammad Salih and his uncle Appunni guilty of murder.
The court earlier acquitted 4 - 12th accused in the case. Abdul Sattar, a Ochira native and business owner in Qatar who hired the hitmen remains at large.
The murder was motivated by love triangle. Sattar’s wife got involved in a romantic relationship with Rajesh. Rajesh had left his job in Qatar and returned to set up a sound studio in Kilimanoor. Consumed by anger at breakup of his marriage owing to Rajesh's role, Sattar hired the hitmen to kill him.In early hours of dawn on 27 March, 2018, the 1st and 2nd accused along with couple of others entered Rajesh’s studio and hacked him to death . Rajesh’s friend Kuttan who was also present at the time, rehearsing music for upcoming temple festival, sustained hacks too. He survived.
Soon as the murder took place, all that police knew was that a red car was involved. The neighbors and family members said Rajesh had no known enemies. When police ran his phone content they found indications of his relationship with a young woman from Qatar. Digging frther on that front, the police realised that the second accused Salih was actually an employee of the woman’s husband and had planned and exectuted the murder.Muhammad Salih who lived in Panchamootu for planning turned to his his friend Appunni’s gang named “Satan Chunks” to carry out the operation. Salih and members of Appuni’s gang directly participated in the killing.
