HC upholds life term to killers
The Delhi high court on Monday upheld the life sentence to two persons for murdering their homosexual partners, including a UNDP officer, in south Delhi in 2004.
Upholding the conviction and the sentence order of the trial court in the infamous Pushkin Chandra murder case, a division bench headed by Justice B.D. Ahmed said the police has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had killed Pushkin, the son of a retired IAS officer, and his friend.
The incident, which had rocked the city, took place on the intervening night of August 13-14, 2004, and in which 38-year old Chandra, an UNDP employee, and his friend Kuldeep were killed in Anand Lok area of south Delhi.
The high court dismissed the appeal filed by Moti, 26, and Rajesh Rekwar, 27, who were awarded life imprisonment by the trial court in 2010 for murder and theft.
Rekwar, who was on interim bail, was sent to custody. Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Manmohan Singh said: “The prosecution has been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the appellants had committed the murders of Pushkin Chandra and Kuldeep.”
“The circumstances taken together form a complete chain and point only in the direction of guilt of the two appellants. The appellant Rajesh Rekwar is on interim bail which was granted to him on account of his medical condition. He be taken into custody to serve out the rest of his sentence. The appellant Moti is already in custody,” the bench said in its 31-page judgment.
Additional Sessions Judge A.K. Kuhar sentenced Moti and Rekwar and imposed a fine of Rs.3,000 on each of them.
The trial court had acquitted Munna and Jai Kishore, who were accused of being involved in “destruction of evidence” and “keeping the stolen property”, for lack of sufficient proof.
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