Man Who Killed Mother Then Fried Her Organs Is Sentenced to Death

A man in the western Indian city of Kolhapur was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering his mother in cold blood, and then frying her organs with an intention to eat them. 

Sunil Rama Kuchkoravi’s alleged crime has triggered horror and shock in the city of 800,000. 

According to the case details, a blood-drenched Kuchkoravi was found next to his mother’s body on August 28, 2017, by an eight-year-old neighbour who then alerted the town. Yallava, the mother, was seen naked and with her liver, intestines and heart disembowelled. The heart was kept on a plate, while a piece of her rib was in an oil bottle along with chilli powder and salt. 

“After the incident, the accused intended to eat the heart and rib of his own mother,” stated the court order, adding that the 35-year-old accused had planned to get rid of the evidence. 

Judges at the local court termed it as the “rarest of rare cases'' – a controversial criteria of crime that merits the death sentence.

India is one of 56 countries – including China, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Singapore – that enforce capital punishment, while 142 others have abolished it. Since 2000, India has had eight executions, and 404 convicts are currently on death row. 

On July 8, the local court found Kuchkoravi guilty of murder under the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to death. The verdict is subject to confirmation by the high court in Mumbai.

The forensic report on the Kuchkoravi incident said there were two injuries on the victim’s private parts. The court stated that the act of undressing his own mother and inflicting fatal injuries on her without “any pain or showing mercy” is “an ultimate insult to motherhood” and “against society at large.” 

“[The crime] left a large impact on the psychology of the society,” said the court order, adding that the murder was “premeditated and cold-blooded”. 

The motive for the crime was money, the police investigation revealed. 

“The present accused not only brutally killed his mother but made her naked and inflicted blows... over her private part, cut down her breast, removed her heart and other parts of body, and was prepared to eat it,” said the court order.

“The intensity and the shamelessness of the act of present accused... demand the capital punishment.” 

Kuchkoravi moved in with his mother after his wife left him because of his alcoholism. Unemployed, he had a history of harassing his wife over alcohol and money.

Kuchkoravi’s lawyer VD Lambhore pleaded insanity in his client’s defence, telling the court he was addicted to alcohol.

“The offence is committed by the accused under the influence of liquor,” Lambhore said in a statement, adding that a medical certificate that proves it is the “missing link” in the chain of events.

“[The accused] was not in a position to understand the nature of his act,” Lambhore claimed.

Kuchkoravi’s family will appeal the verdict before the high court, the lawyer added.

There were no eyewitnesses to the crime, and the court order was based on circumstantial evidence. Two knives and a machete-style chopper covered in blood were recovered from the crime scene. 

Investigating officer SS More told reporters this was “the most cruel” of all the murder cases he has handled. 

At the moment, the police district superintendent announced a monetary reward for the cops who saw through the case, and imposed a fine of INR 25,000 ($334) on Kuchkoravi. 

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