Kochi: A Kerala court on Monday awarded death sentence to a 24-year-old woman, SS Greeshma, for slow poisoning her male friend to death after luring him to her home under the pretext of sexual intimacy in 2022.
The court in Neyyattinkara rejected the convict’s plea for leniency in sentencing by terming her act as “a cold-blooded murder”.
Additional district sessions court judge A M Basheer also sentenced her uncle Nirmalakumaran Nair for three years in jail for helping her in destroying the evidence. Her mother Sindhu was acquitted.
The victim, Sharon Raj, a native of Parassala in Thiruvananthapuram district, was 23 years old at the time of his death. Greeshma gave him poison mixed in some herbal medicine at her residence on October 14, 2022. He died 11 days later while being treated in the ICU of a medical college.
The 586-page verdict noted that the woman committed the crime as he refused to end their relationship when her parents fixed her marriage with another person.
Greeshma had cited her academic achievements, lack of prior criminal history, and the fact that she is her parents’ only daughter to consider her plea for leniency. However, the court said that there was no need to consider her age over the gravity of the crime committed.
The court observed that the convict conspired to operate the crime in phases, and she had a criminal background as she attempted to murder the youth earlier by giving him “suspicious juice”.
While pronouncing the quantum of punishment, the court observed,
“The act of inviting Sharon over under the pretext of sexual intimacy and subsequently committing the crime cannot be ignored. It is the State’s responsibility to ensure punishment for criminal acts. Evidence such as Sharon recording a video of the suspicious juice, despite Greeshma asking him not to record, indicates that he suspected something was wrong. Sharon fought for his life for 11 days without even consuming a drop of water.”
Greeshma was found guilty by the court on January 17 and the final arguments of the defence and prosecution on the quantum of punishment was heard on Saturday.
Police had filed the charge sheet on January 25, 2023, following an investigation led by a special team under then superintendent of police (SP) Shilpa. The trial began on October 15 last year and concluded on January 3 this year.
A total of 259 questions were posed to the accused, and 57 witnesses were examined. The court congratulated the investigation team for conducting a thorough and efficient probe.
Deputy superintendent of police (DySP) K Y Johnson, the then investigation officer, said there were several challenges during the inquiry. “We collected scientific evidence, and the court considered all the evidence produced by the investigation team,” he said.
“The accused searched on Google about slow poisoning and came to know about paraquat, a lethal herbicide. The presence of this poison on one’s body could not be identified in an examination carried out after 24 hours, however, our probe revealed it,” he said.
Sharon’s dying declaration to the magistrate, in which he revealed he had consumed the herbal medicine given by Greeshma without suspecting any harm, was a crucial turning point in the investigation. Forensic evidence also played a pivotal role in establishing the crime.
Special public prosecutor VS Vineeth Kumar said, “While I was arguing before the court, I was confident that the evidence would be accepted by the court. I had argued that there is rarest of the rare case category in this and capital punishment should be awarded…this is an exemplary judgement,” Kumar told reporters.
The victim’s mother, Priya, welcomed the verdict. “Finally, my son can rest in peace,” she told reporters outside the court.
After the court verdict, Greeshma was taken to a women’s prison and correctional home in Thiruvananthapuram’s Attakkulangara.