Attingal twin murder: death for Nino, double life term for Anu Shanthi

IT professional Nino Mathew,40, has been awarded capital punishment in the sensational Attingal twin murder case. His lover Anu Shanthi, 35, who was accused of conspiring with Mathew to kill her three-year-old daughter and mother in law, was handed out double life term by the Principal Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram on Monday morning. 

The court on Friday had found the convicts guilty of the crime. Pronouncing the quantum of punishment the judge said that both techies, who once worked at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, were partners in the most heinous crime. 

The court also slapped a fine of Rs.50 lakh on both convicts.  Santhi, who colluded with Mathew to kill her little daughter, is a shame on motherhood, the court observed. It also dismissed the plea by Shanthi not to paint her as a mother who killed her daughter. 

The prosecution had requested the court to give capital punishment to both the accused. 

   The techies, who maintained an extra-marital relationship, were accused of murdering Swastika, 3, daughter of Shanthi and Omana, 60 in cold blood, to live together. The toddler and her grandmother were hacked to death at their residence on 16 April 2014. 

The techies, who maintained an extra-marital relationship, were accused of murdering Swastika, 3, daughter of Shanthi and Omana, 60 in cold blood, to live together.

The prosecution case was that Mathew carried out the crime to continue his affair with Shanthi and to start a new life together. Both had planned to eliminate Lijeesh, the husband of the latter, and to portray the crime as a robbery attempt. 

  Shanthi had helped Mathew by providing pictures of the house and its premises, who used the images as a blueprint and escaped from the murder site quickly after the execution.  

  Shanthi had testified before the investigators that she sought the help of Mathew to secure the custody of her daughter after eliminating her husband Lijeesh from her life. However, the toddler also got killed along with her grandmother while Lijeesh survived.

The prosecution said that Mathew had planned to kill Lijeesh and decided to finish off both the child and her grandmother to ensure that there are no witnesses left. 

• Attingal twin murder
• attingal murder
• anusanthi
• Nino Mathew
• death sentence