Kerala woman sentenced to death for murdering boyfriend with poisoned drink

Kerala: In a rare case in Kerala, a 24-year-old woman who poisoned and killed her boyfriend in 2022, was sentenced to death by Kerala district court.

On Monday, the Additional District Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram sentenced the accused, Greeshma, to death in the murder of 23-year-old Sharon Raj.

Uncle sentenced to 3 years for being an accomplice

The court, which found Greeshma guilty of murder on January 17, had reserved the sentencing for January 20. Her uncle, Nirmal Kumar, was given a sentence of three years rigorous imprisonment for his role as an accomplice and for destroying evidence and her mother, Sindhu was acquitted by the court.

The judge said that Greeshma chose a time when her family was away and administered the poison in a way that made it difficult to detect. She had planned the murder carefully, taking every opportunity to deceive Sharon and ensure that her actions would remain hidden.

What is the case about?

Sharon Raj, a final-year BSc radiology student, met Greeshma, a literature student, at a private college in Kanyakumari. The two reportedly maintained a romantic relationship for over a year. However, Greeshma’s parents had arranged her marriage to someone else.

To get rid of Sharon, she lured Sharon to her home in Ramavarmanchirai in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district on October 14, 2022, and served him poison-laced ayurvedic drink. She plotted the murder reportedly after Sharon refused to end their relationship, despite her marriage being finalised.

Sharon who hailed from Thiruvananthapuram suburbs of Parassala, battled for life for 11 days and died of internal organ failure on October 25, 2022.

According to the court, she cheated on a person who loved her and that did not send out a good message to society. The court also hailed the investigation team and said the probe was carried out very intelligently.

Greeshma said she was being blackmailed by Sharon

Earlier, Greeshma had appealed for leniency in sentencing by citing her academic achievements, lack of criminal history and the fact that she was a single child. In its 586-page verdict, the court noted that there was no need to consider the convict’s age given the gravity of the crime committed.

The defence counsel Sasthamangalam S Ajith Kumar attempted to present the situation as one where Greeshma acted under extreme pressure, particularly from Sharon who had allegedly been blackmailing her with intimate photographs. He argued that Greeshma should not be given the death penalty, citing her young age, no prior criminal record and the responsibility she had towards her elderly parents.

Despite these arguments, the judge decided to award the death sentence classifying the case as a ‘rarest of rare’ scenario, where life imprisonment would be inadequate, as the brutality of the crime, combined with the victim’s prolonged suffering, made a case for the harshest punishment.