Bengaluru: A 40-year-old villager, who punched his neighbour in the chest, triggering a cardiac arrest that led to his death, has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 20,000.The convict, Ravi Kumar M, an agriculturist from Bisuvanahalli in Doddaballapur Rural, was charged with murdering his 67-year-old neighbour, VT Chandrashekhar, on Aug 23, 2021, following a trivial dispute.Police had also arrested Kumar’s wife, Muniyamma, and brother, Muniyappa, for assisting in the crime. The court sentenced Muniyappa to six months’ imprisonment and fined Muniyamma Rs 1,000.The incident occurred after a goat belonging to Kumar ran towards Chandrashekhar’s three-year-old granddaughter and knocked her down. When the girl began crying, Chandrashekhar came out and confronted Kumar, Muniyamma and Muniyappa, complaining that similar incidents had occurred repeatedly.During the ensuing argument, Kumar punched Chandrashekhar hard in the left side of his chest, causing him to collapse. He was rushed to a private hospital, where he died.Based on a complaint filed by Chandrashekhar’s son, Purushottam, Doddaballapur Rural police arrested Kumar and filed a chargesheet against him for murder.Public prosecutor TN Nataraj argued that Kumar’s assault had directly caused the death and produced medical records to substantiate the claim. A senior police officer said testimonies from two neighbours, who witnessed the assault, along with evidence from the doctors who conducted the autopsy, were crucial to securing the conviction.In her order, judge K Nirmala noted that although Chandrashekhar had coronary artery narrowing, the medical evidence established that the assault triggered the fatal event.After reviewing the medical records, the postmortem doctor, Dr Praveenkumar, issued a final opinion stating that the chest blow was highly likely to have caused the dislodgement of a thrombus or plaque, resulting in the fatal heart attack. Without the blow to the chest, the victim might not have died, she noted.
