High profile criminal lawyer Biju Antony Aloor aka BA Aloor who is the defence counsel in the infamous Soumya murder case that rocked Kerala has revealed that he was hired to defend convict Govindachamy by a highly organized mafia that specializes in drugs and theft, and operating mostly in trains.
Speaking to The News Minute, Mumbai-based Aloor says that he cannot give additional details about the group, as they engage in criminal activities.
When 30-year old Govindachamy alias Charly Thomas was first arrested on charges of raping and murdering 23-year-old Soumya, he was described as a mentally unbalanced beggar, and then a petty thief. However, the case soon took a surprising turn, when BA Aloor appeared along with two other lawyers to defend Govindachamy.
“I charge Rs 5 lakhs per criminal case that I take up. My duty is to represent my client. Till date, I have represented Govindachamy in three courts, so the charges have exceeded Rs 15 lakhs. But that is not of anyone's concern,” Aloor had told TNM, soon after the Supreme Court commuted Govindchamy’s death sentence to that of life imprisonment.
“It was in 2011. I was then in need of a career breakthrough in Kerala. That is when they approached me to take up this case. Actually, I was convinced that Govindachamy was a mere scapegoat in the case,” Aloor recalls.
Aloor is also of the opinion that the review petition filed by the Kerala Government in the Supreme Court seeking capital punishment for the convict would prove to be of no use.
“There was no rape in this case, as claimed by the police. No injuries or wounds were found on Soumya’s private parts. That is exactly why the Supreme Court considered only Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Sections 376, 394, 397 and 447 that were cited by the police were not considered by the SC,” Aloor explains.
According to Aloor, the Kerala police simply fabricated the story of rape just to reinforce their primary assumptions in the said case.
“I too have worked as a Public Prosecutor and I am very familiar with how the police are in the habit of fabricating cases. Govindachamy is a thief and his only intention then was to steal. If his intention was rape, why would he pull Soumya out of the train? No human being would be able to rape a girl lying in a pool of blood,” Aloor opines.
Among the clients he has represented are Devinder Singh alias Bunty Chor, reported to have committed 500 burglaries across the country. He is currently representing the men arrested for murdering rationalist and thinker Narendra Dabholkar.
Aloor had caused a minor stir when it was reported that the lawyer will reportedly represent Ameerul Islam in the Jisha rape and murder case. Previously, Aloor had also claimed that he would represent Ajmal Kasab, convicted and hanged for the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.
Govindachamy was arrested in February 2011 for the said crime and is simultaneously serving sentences in cases of robbery and assaulting a jail convict.
Twenty-three-year-old Soumya who worked as a salesgirl, was returning home by the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train on February 1, 2011. Twenty-three-year-old Soumya -who worked as a salesgirl- was returning home by the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train on February 1, 2011.
One-handed Govindachamy -who routinely frequented trains to beg- entered the ladies’ compartment where she was, robbed and attacked her. A comatose Soumya was later found in the forests by the Railway police near the Vallathol railway station.
She later succumbed to her injuries at the Government Medical College in Thrissur on February 6, 2011. The prosecution’s case was that Govindachamy pushed her off the train, took her to the wooded area, and then raped and murdered her.
Govindachamy, then 30, was convicted of rape and murder on October 31, 2011, and sentenced in November by a Thrissur fast-track court.
The court ruled that the case was fit to be called as the rarest of rare and pronounced capital punishment. Subsequent appeals in the Kerala High Court also upheld that Govindachamy had raped and murdered her.
The Supreme Court, however, held that the prosecution could not prove whether Govindachamy had pushed her off the train or whether she fell off. Hence, it held that he was not guilty of murder, and his sentence was commuted to life sentence.