Perla Devaloka couple murder case: Black magician gets lifer

Perla Devaloka couple murder case: Black magician gets lifer

Mangalore Today News Network

Kasargod, Nov 21, 2013: The second Additional District and Sessions Court has  sentenced Imam Hussain, a black magician from Sagar, to life imprisonment in the  1993 Perla Devaloka couple murder case. The quantum of punishment was pronounced by the court on November 21, Thursday.

The Court had earlier on November 18, Tuesday   convicted Hussain of murdering  Srikrishna Bhat and his wife   Srimathi. The court while announcing the quantum of punishment has also directed the convict to pay a penalty of Rs 1.5 lakh to the  three sons of the couple.

Though the convict pleaded for mercy stating that he had six children, five of them girls staying in a rented house, the court turned down the same.

The court pronounced the judgement  one and a half years after the trials in the case commenced after  Imam was arrested in Bangalore on April 20, 2012, almost  19 years after the crime.

It was on October 9, 1993 that Imam  killed Srikrishna Bhat and his wife after promising to unearth a hidden treasure in their land. Imam was then practicing at a lodge in Mangalore. The couple’s children  Muralikrishna(13), Niranjan(11) and Sudarshan(6) who were sleeping in another room that night came to know that their parents were killed only the next morning. If their mother was found dead in the room, father was later  found in a ditch in their plantation. Items used for black magic were found  at the spot. A hen brought for sacrifice was also at the spot. The police had taken possession of it, but it died after a few years. It was a visiting card  found in the couple’s house that helped the police identify the culprit.

The Badiadka police were initially investigating the case which was handed over to the Crime Branch in 2008.