Gurugram: Man accused in five murders handed life term for killing woman

The convict confessed to the crime and earlier murders, with key evidence including call recordings, cell tower data and witness testimonies.

A Faridabad court sentenced a 60-year-old man to rigorous life imprisonment on Wednesday for kidnapping and murdering a 20-year-old dalit woman in December 2021, police said.

Prosecutors cited a recorded confession to the family and location data to secure conviction under IPC and SC/ST Act provisions. (File photo)

Rekha JS Jangra, deputy district attorney, said that after the convict Singh Raj was arrested for the murder of the womanon January 7, 2022,he confessed to murdering three more minor girls in 2019, 2020 and 2021 for protesting to his molestation attempt.

“Singh had dumped bodies of all three minors in Agra canal near Sector 7 after the murders. Trials are ongoing against him in these cases. He had also confessed to murdering his uncle and cousin in 1987 but was acquitted due to lack of evidence in those cases,” she said.

Police said that Raj worked as a security guard in a private hospital in Sector 16 in2021 when he had molested the dalit woman. Officers said Raj confessed to killing her as she was trying to extort money by threatening to file a police complaint against him.

Jangra said that he asked the woman to meet him at Sector 16 on December 31, 2021, and strangled her to death. “He then transported the body on a bicycle to dump it in the canal. Her family in Bhupani had filed a missing complaint at Old Faridabad police station on January 2, 2022. However, this time, the body was trapped in vegetation and was recovered by police on January 6, 2022,” she said.

Investigators said that on January 5, Raj rang the woman’s family and confessed to murdering her. Her family had recorded his confession on another phone and contacted the police.

“The cell tower location of the deceased and Singh were found to be at the same location at the time of the murder. The recording of his confession along the location was the key evidence for prosecution along with 29 witnesses,” said Jangra.

The court of additional sessions judge Purushottam Kumar also imposed an overall fine of ₹2.1 lakh on the convict Singh Raj after holding him guilty under sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping in order to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of Indian Penal Code and section 3 (2) (v) (atrocities against members of scheduled castes and tribes by non-members) of the Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.