Lucknow: The district and sessions judge of Pratapgarh on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to two murder accused brothers after 32 years of the incident.
Sanjay Shankar Pandey, district and sessions judge, Pratapgarh district, awarded life imprisonment to pronounced the sentence for Ram Bahadur Singh, who is a lawyer by profession, and Siddharth Singh.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹45000 each on both the convicts. After the judgment, both the convicts, who were present in court, were arrested and sent to jail.
Another accused Parasnath Singh, father of the two accused, died during trial of the case.
On September 27, 1990, in Pure Keshav Rai village of Pratapgarh district, Pati Raj Singh was shot dead by brothers Ram Bahadur Singh and Siddharth Singh over a dispute related with agricultural land.
Kaushalya Devi, wife of Pati Raj Singh, had sustained gunshot injuries.
During hearing of the case, the file related with this case also went missing. It was on orders of the district and sessions judge, Sanjay Shankar Pandey, that the entire file was reconstructed and statements of the accused were again recorded in court.
“After 32 years of the incident, the district and sessions court today (Tuesday) awarded life imprisonment to two accused. Both the persons have been arrested and sent to jail,” said Yogesh Sharma, district government council, Pratapgarh, who represented the state government in court.
{{/usCountry}}“After 32 years of the incident, the district and sessions court today (Tuesday) awarded life imprisonment to two accused. Both the persons have been arrested and sent to jail,” said Yogesh Sharma, district government council, Pratapgarh, who represented the state government in court.
{{/usCountry}}The case
Parasnath Singh had a dispute with his neighbour Pati Raj Singh related with agricultural land. The local court had ruled in favour of Pati Raj Singh.
Pati Raj Singh had sown shorgum (jowar) in his field. On September 27, 1990, when Parasnath Singh was forcibly reaping the harvest, Pati Raj Singh and his wife Kaushalya reached there and objected.
During argument, Parasnath Singh called his sons Ram Bahadur Singh and Siddharth Singh and instigated them to shoot the husband and wife.
Both of them opened fire on Pati Raj Singh and Kaushalya Devi. Pati Raj Singh died on way to hospital while Kaushalya Devi sustained injuries.