A POCSO court in Thoothukudi has sentenced a man to death in the case involving the sexual assault and murder of a Class 12 student from Vedanatham village near Vilathikulam. The court said the case was proved and delivered the verdict within 76 days of the incident.
According to the case details, the student went to the wooded area behind her house on the night of March 9 and did not return. After searches failed, her parents approached Kulathur police, and relatives later found her body in the forest area. Post-mortem findings indicated she had been sexually assaulted and killed.
Police formed 10 special teams under the then Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police, Madan, and arrested Dharmamuneeswaran (39) of Sayalkudi in Ramanathapuram district on March 19. He was living in a rented house in Rajapandinagar, Thoothukudi, and police said CCTV footage from a nearby windmill showed him travelling to the area on a stolen bike.
The investigation was conducted as per court directions by DSP Sundarapandiyan, who filed the charge sheet on March 31. During trial before Judge Preetha, the accused was produced from Madurai prison under heavy security, and 73 witnesses were examined, with proceedings concluding on May 21.
Pronouncing the sentence, the judge awarded separate death penalties under the charges of brutal murder and POCSO, along with one year of rigorous imprisonment. The court noted that the accused had earlier been convicted in a 2024 case at Ettayapuram involving the rape and murder of an elderly woman and had been out on bail when this offence occurred, leaving no scope for a lesser punishment.
