Two men were jailed for seven years each by the magistrate's court in Teluk Datuk, Banting, today after they pleaded guilty to disposing of evidence linked to the murders of cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three others.

K Sarawanan, 19, and U Suresh, 26, were each charged with seven counts of disposing of  the offence, under Section 201 of the Penal Code.

Magistrate Hurman Hussain jailed them seven years on each count, to be served concurrently from the date of their arrest.

They were among eight arrested by police between Sept 9 and 12 in connection with the disappearance of Sosilawati and three others on Aug 30.

azlan Sarawanan, a former mechanic, was charged with disposing of the evidence by burning the remains of Sosilawati, 47, CIMB bank officer Noorhisham  Mohammad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati's driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44.

The bodies of the four victims were burnt at Lot No 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.

Suresh was charged with disposing of evidence by throwing the four bodies' ashes into Sungai Panchau, Jalan Morib-Banting, between 8am and 10am on Aug 31, 2010.

On Wednesday, lawyer N Patmanabhan and three farm workers - T Thilaiyalagan, 19, R Matan, 20, and R Khatavarayan, 30 - were charged in the same court with murdering Sosilawati, Noorhisham, Ahmad Kamil and Kamaruddin.

Victims’ ashes brought to river in vehicle

During hearing of the case, which began at 11am today, the court stood down for a while for the Magistrate, the prosecution and the defence, to have a look at a grey Isuzu-D Max vehicle used to carry the victims’ ashes to the river, which was one of the exhibits brought into the court compound.

NONE Counsel M Puravelan, Mohd Naguib Abdul  Malik and Roslie Sulie, represented Suresh and Sarawanan, while deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff, assisted by Saiful Edris Zainuddin and Idham Abdul Ghani, appeared for the prosecution.

In mitigation, Puravelan told the court to take into account the social skill and background of his clients when setting the judgment.

When handing down the sentence, Hurman said he took into account the action by the accused in disposing of evidence in a murder case, the implication of their action to the families of the deceased and the society, as well as the background of the accused.

After Hurman handed down the sentence, Sarawanan and Suresh told the court that they felt remorse and apologised to society for their action.

They spoke in Tamil which was translated into Malay by the court interpreter.

- Bernama