KOCHI: The Supreme Court has announced life-sentence for Antony, first accused in Aluva murder case. Six members of a family, including two children, were found brutally murdered in their house near the St. Mary's High School, Aluva on January 8th 2001. Augustine (48), who is the owner of Manjooran's Hardware, Aluva, his wife Baby (43), his children Divya (16) and Jesmon (12), his mother Clara and his sister Kochurani (40) were found dead.

The six were found lying in a pool of blood when Baby's brother and another relative visited the house because none was picking up the phone though he had called several times during daytime. Clara and Kochurani were killed at night when other members of the family went out together for seeing Joker at Seenath Theatre, nearby. The others were killed when they returned home late at night.

The bodies of Augustine and Baby were found in the dining room and those of the children in two rooms in the front. Clara and Kochurani were found dead in the kitchen, with Kochurani being strangulated with an electric wire. She also had a deep wound in her head. There were tell-tale signs of scuffle in the rooms where the bodies were found and the walls of these rooms contained blood stains. None of the ornaments worn by the victims has been stolen.

The Supreme Court in 2016 had stayed the death sentence awarded to Antony, who murdered six persons of the family. The stay order was issued by a bench chaired by Justice Dipak Mishra while considering the review plea submitted by Antony.

The President had on April 27, 2015 rejected the mercy petition submitted by Antony. The plea submitted in 2010 was rejected after five years. Antony had murdered the family due to a financial dispute.