Four men have been jailed for their entire life by a Delhi court for murdering a 20-year-old youth by brutally stabbing him 29 times after kidnapping him for ransom.
The court said inflicting 29 incised knife injuries showed that the convicts not only wanted to kill the victim, Raju Roy, but also deliver pain and suffering.
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Kumar Bansal awarded imprisonment till the remainder of their lives to convicts Biplav Biswas, Deepak, Hardeep and Deepak, all residents of Mangol Puri in North Delhi.
“Life imprisonment shall mean remainder of their natural life,” the court made it clear in its 186-page verdict.
The court said Biswas, a close friend of Roy, had betrayed the victim’s trust and conspired to kidnap him for a ransom and murdered him.
“This was possible because Biswas called him (victim) there and thereafter sent the victim with the accused persons.
It was only due to conspiracy of Biswas that it was possible,” the court said.
The convicts wanted to raise ransom from Roy’s father who was a medical practitioner and used to run a clinic here.
“The murder was also committed with brutality as pointed out by the prosecutor for the State by inflicting 29 incised wounds which shows that convicts not only wanted to kill him but kill him by giving him pain and sufferings,” it said.
The four men were held guilty of the offences of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping for ransom, robbery and murder.
The court acquitted them of the charge of destruction of evidence, saying there was no evidence that they did it.
It imposed a fine of Rs 3.10 lakh on Biswas, Rs 2.10 lakh each on the other three convicts and directed that the amount be given to the victim’s parents.
On the night of January 4, 2010, police received a call from Roy’s brother that he had gone out in his car but had not returned. The next morning, his mother came to South Rohini police station and gave the physical description of her missing son.
Victim’s father informed the police that he had received a call demanding ransom of Rs 20 lakh to release his kidnapped son. It was found that money was withdrawn from Roy’s bank account using ATM card.
On January 7, 2010, the youth’s body was found in the luggage space of his car in Gharaunda in Haryana’s Karnal district. Thereafter, the four men were apprehended.
During the trial, the men denied the evidence against them and claimed they were falsely implicated.
The court, however, said the prosecution had proved that the place of murder pointed out by the convicts and recovery of their belongings link them with the commission of offence and establish their presence on the crime scene.
The court also rejected the claim that Roy’s father had falsely implicated the accused, saying there was no reason why the victim’s father would falsely implicate them.
( Source – PTI )
