The Kerala High Court on Thursday acquitted eight people sentenced to life imprisonment by a lower court for murdering businessman Paul Muthoot in Alappuzha in 2009, the Hindustan Times reported. Muthoot was killed in a road rage incident, and a Central Bureau of Investigation court had convicted and sentenced nine men to life in jail in 2015.

Paul Muthoot was the son of MG George Muthoot, the chairperson of the Muthoot financial services company.

The High Court on Thursday acquitted all the accused except Kari Sathish. Unlike the others, Kari Sathish had not filed a plea in the High Court against his sentence, Mathrubhumi reported. He was also accused of being the one who stabbed Muthoot.

Muthoot was killed on August 22, 2009. In its first chargesheet, the Kerala Police had named 25 people. Following a Kerala High Court directive, the case was transferred to the CBI. The CBI then filed a fresh chargesheet with 14 accused, and added another five later.

Of the 14 accused originally charged, nine were sentenced to life imprisonment, four got three years of rigorous imprisonment for allegedly destroying evidence, and the last was acquitted for lack of evidence.

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