Three get life for killing father,son

“The present case falls just short of rarest of the rare (attracting death penalty). Hence,considering all facts and circumstances,I award rigorous imprisonment for life to convicts — Shailesh Kumar,Alok Kumar and Santosh Kumar. They shall not be released from prison till the rest of their life,” said Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Kumar in a recent order.

The three were arrested in March 2002 — days after the bodies of Ram Murat and his son Chamki were recovered in a decomposed state from a trunk in a house at Shakarpur. Ram Murat,50,and his teenaged son were murdered on February 25,2002 by the convicts,who first hit them with an iron press,dumbbells and then choked them with electric wire.  

The trio was nabbed after a few persons,acquaintances of the victims,told the police that they were last seen in the company of the accused. The police was also told that Ram Murat made an agreement with the accused for purchasing an agricultural land in his native village in Uttar Pradesh and the trio had come to his house for collecting the money. After interrogation of the accused,the police also recovered the electric iron and wire used in the crime.

“They (Shailesh and Alok) planned to have sale consideration of the land from deceased Ram Murat. They also wanted to save their land from the agreement of sale,(so) they joined hands with third accused Santosh. The prosecution has proved the motive beyond reasonable doubt,” noted the court. The court further held that the last seen evidence coupled with the medical evidence had established the guilt of the accused.

Though the prosecution sought death penalty for the accused,the judge held that they could not be awarded the maximum punishment. The ASJ then sentenced the three to life term for their gruesome act and added that they should be deprived of any mercy by the government authorities after 14 years.