Mohali: Bihar man who stabbed Balongi vendor to death gets life term

The murder took place on August 13, 2023 as convict Kapil Paswan believed that victim Dalip Kumar had an affair with a woman he was in a relationship with

A local court on Thursday sentenced a Bihar man to life imprisonment for murdering a vegetable vendor at the Balongi weekly vegetable market in 2023. Convict Kapil Paswan of Rohtas district in Bihar, who has been convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, was residing in Balongi when he stabbed Dalip Kumar to death on the evening of August 13, 2023.

The court relied heavily on forensic evidence. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to the prosecution, the victim had come from Uttar Pradesh two weeks before the incident to meet his sister-in-law Sangeeta, who sold vegetables in the local market. Dalip used to help her in her business. “Convict Kapil Paswan, who was in a relationship with Sangeeta, suspected that she was having an affair with Dalip as well, so he turned up in the vegetable market with his face covered and stabbed Dalip in his abdomen before fleeing,” the prosecution stated. Sangeeta took him to the civil hospital in Phase 6 where doctors declared him dead.

The court noted that the accused became upset after Sangeeta started avoiding him following Dalip’s arrival. A key piece of evidence was the extra-judicial confession allegedly made by the accused before Mohali Truck Union vice president Manpreet Singh. The prosecution stated Manpreet Singh took Paswan to the police on August 15, 2023, after he confessed about his involvement in the murder. The defence argued that the extra-judicial confession was a weak form of evidence, but the court rejected the claim, observing that the confession was voluntary, truthful and corroborated by other evidence on record.

Rejecting the defence claim that the accused had been falsely implicated, the court observed that the chain of circumstances was complete and clearly pointed towards the guilt of the accused.