Over four years after the 19-year-old son of a jeweller was bludgeoned to death during a Rs 50-lakh gold robbery at their shop in Kalka in 2016, a local court has awarded three of the five convicts life imprisonment.
The victim, Shubhanshu Verma, used to sleep on the shop premises.
Apart from Iqbal Ahmad, 32, Mohd Aabid, 53, and Jagdish Ram, 49, who will serve life terms, two other convicts, Naseem Begum, 45, and Ram Gopal Verma, 46, have been jailed for two years.
While Ahmad and Aabid have been fined Rs 5 lakh each, the third lifer will pay Rs 2.5 lakh, while the court slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 each on Begum and Verma.
Of the Rs 12.5 lakh fine imposed on the three lifers, Rs 11 lakh will be paid to the victim’s mother as compensation, the court ruled.
‘Case not fit for death penalty’
Earlier, the public prosecutor prayed for death penalty for Ahmad and Aabid, contending that they had committed a heinous offence, and brutally and mercilessly murdered Shubhanshu, while Ram had egged them on.
However, the court observed that the case was not fit for awarding death penalty and sent Ahmad, Aabid and Ram to jail for life.
Ahmad and Mohd were convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 34 (acts done in furtherance of common intention), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death), 460 (house trespass) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, while Ram was found guilty under Section 302 – read with Sections 109/111 (abetment), 394/397 of the IPC.
Begum and Verma were convicted under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC.
Midnight heist
The youngest son of jeweller Jagdish Verma, whose shop is located near Kali Mata Mandir in Kalka, Shubhanshu used to sleep on the shop premises.
After breaking into the shop around 2am on the intervening night of July 4 and 5, 2016, the three lifers had bludgeoned the teen to death with an iron rod, before looting gold and silver jewellery worth around Rs 50 lakh. The crime was captured in the shop’s three CCTV cameras, which led to their arrest.
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