In a verdict that brings closure to a 20-year-old case, the Additional District Court in Kerala’s Mavelikkara on Saturday, December 7, sentenced a 60-year-old man to death for the brutal murder of his wife in Mannar. The gruesome murder, infamously known as the ‘Mannar Jayanthi’ murder case, took place on April 2, 2004, when the then 40-year-old Kutty Krishnan murdered his wife Jayanthi (39), in the presence of their one-year-old daughter.
Judge VG Sreedevi found Kutty Krishnan guilty of murdering his wife and awarded him a death sentence and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh. The court directed that Rs 50,000 be given to his daughter. Jayanthi's gold ornaments, presented in court as evidence, will also be handed over to her daughter.
According to reports, the prosecution proved that suspicion of a romantic relationship drove Kutty Krishnan to kill Jayanthi using a knife, a chisel, and a hammer, severing her head. The next day, he reported her murder to the police and the subsequent investigation pointed out him as the killer. After he was granted bail, Kutty Krishnan absconded and evaded the law for nearly two decades before being apprehended in 2023.