The Kerala High Court Tuesday cancelled the death sentence awarded to Kanakaraj, the second accused in the Puthur Sheela murder case. The apex court of the state has commuted the capital punishment to life imprisonment and upheld the trial court's decision to acquit Manikandan, the third accused in the case.

Sheela Jayakrishnan was stabbed to death on March 23, 2010, at her house at Puthur, near Palakkad. Later, Karthiyayani Amma,Sheela's mother, identified the three accused, Sampath, Kanakaraj, and Manikhandan, in an identification parade organised by the police.

Following this, the police arrested the three on March 28, 2010 and Kanakaraj had been found guilty, under Sections 449 (housebreak), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 392 (robbery), and 397 (robbery after murder) of the Indian Penal Code, by the Additional Sessions Judge, P K Haneefa, in Palakkad.

Meanwhile, Sampath, the first accused, died in police custody on March 29, 2010