A court in Kerala Saturday awarded the death sentence to a 60-year-old man who was found guilty on charges of murdering his wife two decades ago. Mavelikkara additional sessions court (1) judge V G Sreedevi sentenced Kuttikrishnan, who hails from Mannar in Alappuzha, to death and to pay a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh for murdering his wife Jayanthi, who was 39 at the time. Public prosecutor advocate P V Santhosh Kumar said the accused, who had been abroad for 20 years, had committed the crime because he suspected his wife’s “character”. The incident took place on April 2, 2004, when the couple was living at Mannar with their one-year-old daughter. According to case records, Kuttikrishnan slit his wife’s throat using a knife and also used a hammer in the crime. After the murder, Kuttikrishnan spent the night at the house with his daughter. The next day, he went to the local police station along with his daughter to confess to the murder. Arrested the same day, he remained in judicial custody for around three months. After obtaining bail, he went into hiding after selling his house. His daughter, now 21, grew up with her mother’s family. Nineteen years later, in October 2023, police nabbed Kuttikrishnan, leading to the commencement of the trial. By then, six prosecution witnesses had died.
