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28 sentenced to life for Chandan Gupta’s murder during 2018 Tiranga yatra in Kasganj
On Thursday, the special court convicted the 28 under multiple penal provisions including murder and attempt to murder, and Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act
LUCKNOW: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday awarded life imprisonment.to the 28 men convicted for the murder of Chandan Gupta who was killed in a communal clash in Kasganj district of Uttar Pradesh during the “Tiranga yatra” on the Republic Day in 2018.
“The NIA court has awarded life sentences to all 28 accused in the Chandan Gupta murder case,” district government counsel Manoj Tripathi said after additional sessions judge Vivekanand Saran Tripathi pronounced the verdict on Friday.
On Thursday, the special court convicted the 28 under multiple sections of the penal code including murder and attempt to murder as well as the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971. Two other accused, Nasiruddin and Asim Qureshi, were acquitted in the case.
Chandan Gupta was killed on January 26, 2018 during a rally involving large number of motorcycles with the tricolour and saffron flags, led by members of Hindu right-wing outfits, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the students wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — in Kasganj city.
The rally entered Muslim-dominated Baddunagar locality despite administrative restrictions in the wake of the Republic Day, sparking communal clashes. Amid the chaos, Gupta, an ABVP activist, was shot dead, further escalating the violence, which saw at least three shops, two buses and a car being torched. The unrest prompted the district administration to enforce curfew for seven days.
From Kasganj, the case was transferred to the Etah district court and thereafter to the NIA court, Lucknow, in 2022.
Those convicted are Salim, Wasim, Nasim, Jahid ‘Jagga’, Asiq Qureshi ‘Hitler’, Aslam Qureshi, Akram, Taufeeq, Khillan, Shabab, Rahat, Salam, Mohsin, Asif Jimwala, Saquib, Bablu, Nishu, Wasif, Imran, Shamshad, Jafar, Sakir, Khalid Parvez, Faizan, Imran Qayyum, Sakir Siddiqui, Munazir Rafi and Amir Rafi.
One of the 28 convicts, Munazir Rafi, was already in jail in connection with Kasganj lawyer Mohini Tomar’s murder on September 3, 2024. The remaining 27 accused were out on bail. Of them, 26 surrendered before the court on Thursday and Salim surrendered on Friday.
During the trial of the case, prosecution presented 18 witnesses and the defence presented 23. Saurabh Pal, a prosecution witness in the case, had turned hostile.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also dismissed a petition that challenged the decision to hold the
In another development, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petition challenging the decision to have Lucknow special court try the murder case. The Supreme Court today dismissed the petition pointing out that the NIA court has full jurisdiction to hear the case,” said advocates Subhash Bisaria and Amol Chitravanshi.
