Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the state government seeking its response to an appeal by a 24-year-old woman who was sentenced to death in January, Bar and Bench reported.
A court in Thiruvananthapuram on January 20 sentenced Greeshma to death for poisoning and murdering her partner, Sharon Raj.
A bench of Justices PB Suresh Kumar and Jobin Sebastian on Thursday sought the government’s response after hearing Greeshma’s appeal against her conviction and death sentence.
The court sentenced her uncle Nirmalakumaran Nair to three years in jail after finding him guilty of destruction of evidence and providing false information to protect an offender.
Alongside directing the government to respond to Greeshma’s appeal, the bench suspended the three-year sentence handed to Nair.
The prosecution earlier during proceedings in the Thiruvananthapuram court argued that in March 2022 Greeshma’s family arranged for her to marry a military officer nevertheless her relationship with Raj.
Greeshma reportedly plotted the murder as Raj had refused to end the relationship after her engagement.
Greeshma told police that she wanted to end the relationship with Raj and asked Raj to delete intimate photos and videos which she feared Raj would share with her fiancée.
After several failed attempts including once mixing painkillers in his water and juice, Greeshma invited Raj to her home in Ramavarmanchirai, Kanniyakumari on October 14, 2022 and served him Ayurvedic drink laced with paraquat, a herbicide.
Falling ill, Raj was hospitalized and died of multiple organ failure on October 25, 2022.
Greeshma, who was arrested on October 31, 2022, was granted bail in September 2023.
Her mother, Sindhu who was arrested alongside her uncle on charges of abetting the crime and destroying evidence, was acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove charges against her according to Scroll.