Sentence received by Cadell

Thirty-four-year-old Cadell Jeansen Raja, who was accused of murdering four people, who are his parents, sister and a relative, has been sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment, followed by life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 15 lakh. Thiruvananthapuram Sixth Additional District Judge K Vishnu sentenced the accused, rejecting the argument that the case was the rarest of rare cases. The court has specifically ordered that the accused should undergo 12 years of rigorous imprisonment before the life sentence. The charge sheet states that the accused, who was fascinated by Satanism, believed that these murders would help free the soul from the body.

The greatest burden on a person is the memories of uncorrectable mistakes. This cruel criminal, Cadell Jeansen Raja, absolutely deserves the punishment of having to spend a large part of a human life in prison, deprived of his freedom. In April 2017, the accused murdered retired Prof Raja Thankam, his wife Dr Jean Padma, their daughter Caroline and his relative Lalitha at 117-Bains Compound, Nanthancode. The punishment handed down to the accused carries a minimum sentence of thirty years in prison. Although he initially showed some mental disorders, he is now serving his sentence in silence. He tried to escape punishment by claiming to have a mental problem, but it did not yield any result.

The accused committed the crime after careful planning. For this, he had made preparations for months and had purchased the weapon of murder, an axe, online. He had also made a human body dummy and practised his murder technique on it. The court came to the conclusion that the accused, who tried to hide the bodies and douse them with petrol and burn them after the massacre, committed the murders with proper consciousness. Moreover, the accused had not sought treatment for his mental problems at the time of committing the crime. The police revealed that, in addition to these four people, Cadell had a plan to kill his uncle Jose Sundaram also. The police concluded that he had gone to Jose's house after committing four murders, but could not kill Jose because the circumstances were not favourable. The prosecution was strengthened by the crucial statement of Jose, the first witness in the case.

The murders were revealed to the outside world when the entire house caught fire while Cadell was trying to burn the bodies. The defendant's statement given in court was that the constant neglect of the family members prompted the murders. However, the defendant's initial statement in court was that he committed the murders as part of astral projection, which is a Satanic ritual. The police investigators, who were able to skillfully prove this case based on accurate scientific evidence, and the prosecution, who used flawed arguments to obtain a conviction, deserve praise.