A special court in Tamil Nadu‘s Madurai on Tuesday sentenced Yuvaraj, a caste-outfit leader and his aide Arun to life imprisonment on three counts in the 2015 murder of Dalit youth V Gokulraj for befriending an upper-caste girl.
17 people were accused in the case, five were acquitted, one died during the trial, and another is still absconding. Of the 10 convicts, five were handed two life sentences each. The eighth one has been awarded a life sentence, while two others got life term, along with five-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 each.
Justice T Sampathkumar said the life sentences of Yuvaraj will run concurrently, reports The Indian Express.
The murder of Gokulraj came to light on 24 June 2015, when his beheaded body was recovered from a rail track in Namakkal.
Gokulraj had visited a temple with a upper-caste female friend and was abducted by the activists of Theeran Chinnamalai Gounder Pervai, a caste outfit led by Yuvaraj.
The case was treated as suicide for at least a month. Police later found that the assailants coerced Gokulraj to record a video and write a suicide note, which was widely circulated on social media.
