E-Paper
Ten awarded life term in Meerut triple murder case
The sensational triple murder rocked the city on the afternoon of May 23, 2008. Bodies of three youths were found lying on the banks of a river in Baleni town on the border of Baghpat and Meerut districts.
MEERUT Additional district judge, special court (Anti Corruption-2) Pawan Kumar Shukla awarded life imprisonment to 10 accused, including main accused Haji Ejlal Qureshi and his girlfriend Sheeba Sirohi on Monday, 16 years after the sensational triple murder of three youths in Gudri Bazar area here. All the accused are in jail.
Tight security arrangements were made during the court’s proceedings . No one was allowed to enter the court premises without checking.
Additional district government counsel Mukesh Mittal said that the court pronounced life imprisonment to all 10 culprits, including Sheeba, and also slapped fine of ₹50,000 on each of them.
During hearing, the prosecutors’ counsel told the court that this murder case fell in the category of heinous crimes and the culprits should be sentenced to death. At the same time, the defence lawyer said that the accused had no previous criminal history. The three bodies were not dismembered, it was just a media trial and it did not fall in the rare category.
The counsel for the prosecution side argued that the three youths who were killed were treated like animals, their throats were cut with knives, they were shot and beaten with pipes. Such people ( like the accused) were a danger to society. Therefore, such culprits should be given death sentence.
After listening to the arguments of both the sides, the judge pronounced the verdict at 4:45 in the evening.
To note , the sensational triple murder rocked the city on the afternoon of May 23, 2008. Bodies of three youths were found lying on the banks of a river in Baleni town on the border of Baghpat and Meerut districts. They were identified as Sunil Dhaka (27), resident of Meerut, Jagriti Vihar, Puneet Giri (22), resident of Parikshitgarh Road and Sudhir Ujjwal (23), resident of Sirsali village in Baghpat.
Mittal said that Haji Ejlal had an affair with Sheeba. Sunil Dhaka, Puneet Giri and Sudhir Ujjawal opposed their relationships. Ejlal called them to his house in Gudri Bazar area on May 22, 2008 after Sheeba told him about the trio and killed them.
Police investigation revealed that on the night of May 22, all three were murdered by Haji Ejlal Qureshi along with his brothers and associates in Gudri Bazaar of Kotwali area and their bodies were dumped on the bank of the river. Police filed charge sheet against 14 accused in this case.
Sheeba was the girlfriend of Haji Ejlal and she was booked for abetment to murder.
Additional district judge of special court Pawan Kumar Shukla found Ejlal Qureshi, his brother Afzal, Maharaj, Kallu alias Kalua, Izhaar, Munnu Driver alias Devendra Ahuja , Wasim , Rizwan, Badruddin and Sheeba Sirohi guilty after the last hearing of the case on August 2 and reserved the order, which was pronounced on Monday.
