3 Engg students amoung 5 found guilty of murder of gem dealer

A fast track court here today found five persons, including three engineering students, guilty of murdering a gem dealer in December 2012.
The court, however, acquitted the sixth accused Haridas, who was also an acquaintance of the dealer Harihara Varma.
Those found guilty are Rakhil, Ragesh and Joseph, engineering students M Jithesh and Ajeesh. The court would announce their quantum of sentence tomorrow.
The case pertains to the murder of Harihara Varma (59), stated be a member of one of the erstwhile royal family in the state, allegedly to get the precious stones he possessed.
He was smothered to death by the accused using chloroform in the house owned by his friend Haridas' daughter at nearby Puthoorkonam on December 24, 2012.

The prosecution case was that the accused approached Varma under the guise of buying gemstones and escaped with the stones after murdering him.