Anands get life term in Rajvansh case

A sessions court today sentenced Vivek and Ketan Anand, sons of film-maker Chetan Anand, to life imprisonment along with their two servants ...

A sessions court today sentenced Vivek and Ketan Anand, sons of film-maker Chetan Anand, to life imprisonment along with their two servants in the case relating to the sensational murder of actress Priya Rajvansh.

Judge S.P. Nikam passed the operative part of the order and sent the Anand brothers to custody. The other two accused, Mala Choudhury and Ashok Chinnaswamy, have been in jail since their arrest.

Star witness: 16-yr-old who nailed the brothers

Mumbai: Suresh Armugham, now 16 was only 14 when he heard the Anand brothers give instructions to servants Mala and Ashok about making sure that they finish Priya Rajvansh.
Two years later, he could not only say all that he had heard and seen at 2, Ruia Park, Juhu, but face the cross examination of defence counsels and convince the judge of his statements. Suresh was working at a place near Juhu and staying at Anand brothers’ place on Mala’s advice.
Identifying Mala and Ashok in the court, completely unaware of the implications of his account of the dialogues and incidents, Suresh has been instrumental in getting the accused behind the bars.
He told the court how he was asked to switch the fuse off when Priya entered the bathroom and was later strangled. ‘‘Priya Madam yahan aati thi to mein usko baraf lake deta tha. Baat nahin karti thi,’’ he said.
Facing the judge all the time for three days, he would get annoyed, ‘‘Mere ko nahin samajhta hai, baar baar yahi sawal kyun poochte ho.’’
When the case had to come next day, he said, ‘‘mere ko shaadi mein jana hai. Abhi poocho. Kal jana hai.’’ Judge S.P. Nikam had to cajole him. And he did come. —ENS

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At 11 am sharp, the Judge read out the operative part of the order and said that he was sentencing all the accused to life imprisonment under Section 120-B, conspiracy.

Accused Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand were convicted under Section 120-B and also 120-B read with Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. Mala and Ashok, who executed the plan and murdered Priya while she was in the bathroom, were convicted under Section 302 read with 120 of IPC. The Anand brothers were acquitted under Section 302.

The order will be completed later on. The judge asked police to take the accused into custody immediately. They were taken to Arthur Road jail. Mala and Ashok are already in jail but the Anand brothers were released on bail in September 2000, five months after the crime.

The Anand brothers were present in the court along with their family. But as soon as the judgement was declared they left the court. Prosecutor Kiran Makasare said that evidence was circumstantial and that the conspiracy had to be proved through diaries of the late actress. Several witnesses had given statements confirming that the Anand brothers were constantly threatened her.

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Witnesses such as Siddharth Kak, Shashi Ranjan and the Maharaja of Bhavnagar had deposed before the court. All of them had stated that Priya was scared of going to the bungalow but was going only to establish her claim over her share of the property.

Later Makasare, examined handwriting experts to prove the handwriting of the diaries and the letters written to her brother. Her brothers, from the UK and US, also deposed. In all 28 prosecution witnesses were examined. Priya Rajvansh, a friend of Chetan Anand, was found dead on March 27, 2000, in the house where the Anand brothers stay.

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