Tiruchy convict had a secret life with wife

TIRUCHY: The accused in an assault and robbery case, D Gopi alias Marimuthu, who consumed pesticide in the court hall in Tiruchy soon after the magistrate sentenced him to seven years rigorous imprisonment on March 9, led a shady life: regularly indulging in crimes, marrying a woman seven years ago without the knowledge of his parents and begetting two children.Though Gopi came to the court on the day of the verdict armed with a bottle of pesticide, he never revealed his plan either to his wife or parents. Looking back, his very last words, “I am innocent and the whole case is fabricated,” seemed hallow as his parents and wife don’t give him a clean chit. “On the particular day, he (Gopi) called me up and asked me to bring our two-year-old daughter to the court, saying that it would be the final hearing on a case. So I brought the girl along and he spoke to us as usual before going inside the court hall,” said Ganthimathy (30), the secret wife of Gopi. “We got married seven years ago when I was pregnant with our son, who is now six years old. We were in love for over eight years and I insisted that he marry me after I became pregnant. So he tied the thali at my house at Chitheri near Mannargudi when we were all alone,” she said. “Had I sensed that he was harbouring plans of consuming poison, I would have prevented him from doing so,” she repeatedly said.However, Gopi never took Gandhimathy to his house, which is located a few kilometers away from Chitheri.  He never stayed at Gandhimathy’s house in the nights. She knew that he was involved in several criminal cases but did not know the nature of crimes. He would visit her whenever he went to sign the register in the police station. “I neither know his house, nor his parents and sisters and so they never knew my kids,” she said.Gopi’s parents came to know of his marriage only after he died on March 9. When Gandhimathy called up his parents to inform them that he had been hospitalised after taking poison, they initially scolded her. When they reached the GH, the police introduced Gandhimathy to them and only after that they knew that their son was married and had two children. The shocked parents did not utter a word to Gandhimathy.Later, the parents received the body and performed the last rites. Gandhimathy, who did not attend the funeral, did not claim the body as she could not afford to organise the funeral. Meanwhile, police, said that the modus operandi of Gopi was to waylay and rob people while working as a lorry driver.