A fast-track court in Berhampore of Murshidabad district on Thursday awarded death sentence to a youth after holding him guilty of killing a college girl student who was stabbed 42 times in broad daylight in May last year. This is the second incident of capital punishment being awarded by a court in West Bengal in a week. The victim, Sutapa Chowdhary (21), was attacked by Sushant Chowdhary outside her college mess on May 2, 2022. Sushant (23) was held guilty by the court of Additional District Judge Santosh Kumar Pathak on Tuesday after hearing the statements of all parties and examining the evidence. He was convicted under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 28A of the Arms Act. A purported firearm that Sushant had used to scare the victim was later found to be a toy gun. It was recovered from the spot by the police. The blood stains on the gun matched with the victim’s DNA. The toy gun was delivered to his house by an e-commerce portal. According to the video evidence, the convict slit the girl’s throat on the street in front of her neighbours.
