Speaking to this newspaper, Indian legal activist Nizar Kocheri said the issue was brought to his attention only two days ago and it has been decided to appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court before the deadline for appealing ends on July 30. Kocheri said he has also discussed the matter with Indian embassy officials.
It is learnt the prosecution has appealed for capital punishment for the third defendant also.
The verdict in the murder case was delivered on May 30 by the Court of Appeal but the issue came to light only when Suresh Kumar, a lawyer from India, who was deputed by the South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (SAFF) arrived in Doha a couple of days ago to follow up the case. Kumar had also met Indian embassy officials in this regard.
The trio, who were found guilty of the murder, were identified as Alagappa Subramaniam, Chinnadurai Perumal and Sivakumar Arasan, all reported to be in their early 40s and natives of Villupuram, Virudhunagar and Salem, respectively, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
At least one of the three was working at the home where the murder took place, a source told this newspaper.
The crime was committed towards the end of 2012 and two of the accused were awarded capital punishment by a local court on December 31, 2014. The trial court had sentenced the third accused to life in prison. In May this year, the Court of Appeals upheld the verdict.
In a previous case, three other Asian expatriates, two Indians and a Nepali, were sentenced to death for the killing of an Indonesian housemaid in 2003. Though the appeals court upheld the lower court's verdict, it was commuted to life for the Indians and 15 years in jail for the Nepali by the apex court in 2011.
While the Indians in this case have been identified as Sreedharan Manikantan and Unnikrishnan Mahadevan, both taxi drivers, the Nepali's name was given as Chandrasekhar Yadav. The proceedings of the sensational case had begun with the arrest of the trio in December 2003 after the maid’s body was found in October that year at the Wakrah beach.
The accused were spared the death penalty as they were given the benefit of doubt by the Supreme Court.
The then Indian ambassador George Joseph had been instrumental in securing the reprieve for the defendants in that case, Kocheri recalled.
"It was an extraordinary case because it was heard by the Supreme Court three times," he said.