Mehram murder case: Court frames charges against accused

The local court on Monday framed charges against Tejinder Singh Ganju, the accused in the murder of Mehram Sandhu, a six-year-old boy, whose body was found decomposed in Sector 69 here on November 7 last year.

The local court on Monday framed charges against Tejinder Singh Ganju, the accused in the murder of Mehram Sandhu, a six-year-old boy, whose body was found decomposed in Sector 69 here on November 7 last year.

Ganju was Mehram’s neighbor, who had kidnapped him for ransom on October 28.

He has been framed under Sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The police had submitted the chargesheet against Ganju in January under Sections 302, 201 (causing dissapearance of evidence of offence), 364, 364A (kidnapping in order to murder)and 506 (punishment ) of the IPC, but the court slashed the charges and framed him under the abovementioned sections instead.

The police had provided three witnesses excluding police officers, doctors and other officials.

The family members initially suspected Mehram’s estranged Sydney-based father Varinderpal Singh behind his abduction, following which the police had registered a case against him. But later Ganju confessed his crime during police preliminary examination.

Meanwhile, Avtar Singh Makkar, president of Shiromani Akali Dal Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) had offered the job of a clerk to Mehram’s mother Harinder Kaur in Amb Sahib Gurudwara, Phase 8, on compassionate grounds.