Chandigarh judge defers verdict in Akansh Sen murder case
CHANDIGARH: A day after Harmehtab Singh Rarewala was held guilty of the murder of Akansh Sen, a nephew of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, the prosecution sought capital punishment for him.
“As Harmehtab has been held guilty under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, he should be awarded capital punishment or he should get life imprisonment till death along with a heavy fine, ” the prosecution demanded in the court of additional district and sessions judge Rajeev Goyal on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the quantum of punishment that was to be pronounced on Tuesday was deferred to 11am on Wednesday.
On the other hand, seeking a lenient view, Harmehtab’s advocate NPS Waraich said, “It’s not in the category of rarest of rare cases. The crime is not against society. It’s an individual crime that was not for pecuniary benefits, not for greed of property or money. It was the result of a sudden quarrel, no pre-mediation from any circumstances. My client (Harmehtab) was not sitting in the driver’s seat and he had no control over the offending vehicle, only exhortation has been attributed to him.”
On Monday, the court convicted Harmehtab, who is the grandson of erstwhile Pepsu’s chief minister Gian Singh Rarewala, for the murder of Sen, who was run over by a BMW car several times following a brawl at a party in a posh residential area of Sector 9, Chandigarh, on February 9, 2017. Harmehtab had instigated his friend, Balraj Singh Randhawa, who is absconding, to crush Sen under the tyres following a scuffle.
There was an old enmity between Sen’s friend Gagandeep Singh Shergill and Harmehtab. Sen had confronted Harmehtab for misbehaving with Shergill and this angered him, leading to the murder.
