Thrissur, Kerala, Nov 11, 2011: A fast track court in Thrissur on Friday awarded death sentence to killer Govindachamy (30) in the sensational Soumya murder case. The man from Tamil Nadu was sentenced for raping and murdering 23-year-old Soumya whom he pushed out of a running train in February.
Pronouncing the sentence, Judge Raveendra Babu said Govindachamy had committed the offences in a “diabolic manner” and did not deserve any leniency.
The victim was raped in a “brutal” and “cruel” manner, the Judge said while awarding the death sentence and imposing Rs one lakh fine on him, besides sentencing the accused to varying terms of rigorous imprisonment under different sections of the IPC.
Soumya, worked at a mall in Kochi, was attacked by Govindachamy on the night of February 1. He allegedly pushed her from a moving train and then raped her near the railway track . She was found unconscious a few hours later, with a huge wound on her head near the Vallathol Nagar Railway Station and was moved to hospital but died six days later.
Soumya was on her way home to her village in Thrissur to consider a marriage proposal when Govindachamy entered her compartment and tried to rob her, before shoving her from the train. She had quit her course in hotel management less than three months before she died to help support her family. Her father had left her mother five years ago, and Soumya felt she should shoulder her family’s financial responsibilities.