A local court in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district on Monday awarded life imprisonment till death to five persons accused of abducting and killing five-year-old twins in the district in February 2019, said a lawyer.
In a high profile case, which kept MP and UP police on toes for 12 days, the six accused kidnapped twins, Priyansh and Shreyansh Rawat, from a school bus at a gunpoint in Chitrakoot on February 12, 2019. The accused have been identified as Raju alias Rakesh Dwivedi, Lucky Singh Tomar, Rohit Dwivedi and Ramkesh Yadav - all residents of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh - Pintoo Yadav, a resident of Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh, and Padm Shukla, a resident of Nayagaon, Chitrakoot.
Later, the twins’ bodies were recovered from Yamuna river on February 24.
Additional district prosecution officer (ADPO), Dharmendra Singh, said, “The main accused, Ramkesh Yadav, was the tutor of the twins and planned the abduction. After receiving a ransom amount of ₹20 lakh, the accused killed the twins as they had seen the tutor.”
“Ramkesh Yadav died by suicide in the jail in May 2019 and other accused are lodged in the jail. The police filed a 230-page charge-sheet having enough evidence against them to prove them guilty,” said Singh.
{{/usCountry}}“Ramkesh Yadav died by suicide in the jail in May 2019 and other accused are lodged in the jail. The police filed a 230-page charge-sheet having enough evidence against them to prove them guilty,” said Singh.
{{/usCountry}}“The three accused Padm, Raju and Lucky have been sentenced to life imprisonment till death four times for the kidnapping and murder of both the children and a fine of ₹1.7 lakh. The accused Vikramjit Singh and Apoorva Yadav were found guilty of abduction, criminal conspiracy and arms act and were sentenced double life imprisonment said Hari Krishna Tripathi, media in-charge of prosecution.
“Priyansh Rawat and Shreyansh Rawat were abducted by accused Padmakant and Raju from the bus. The accused kept the kids in a rented accommodation about a kilometre away from the school. Raju and Padmakant went to Banda, UP to demand ransom of ₹2 crore from their father Brijesh Rawat. On February 18, they received ₹20 lakh. But the kids had seen Ramkesh Yadav so Padmakant, Raju and Lucky took the children in an SUV to Augasi Ghat district Banda on the Yamuna river and strangulated them to death. They threw the bodies in the river after tying with chains, nets and stones,” said Tripthai
Meanwhile, the victims’ father, Brijesh Rawat, expressed dissatisfaction. “I failed. Injustice was done with my innocent kids who were killed for money. I am upset with judgement as these culprits should be hanged till death,” he said.