HC commutes death penalty of 2 in 2013 Nashik murder to 30-yr term

The crime was definitely “abhorrent,” the court said, but added that brutality alone could not justify imposing the capital punishment

MUMBAI: Observing the crime as brutal but still not qualifying as “the rarest of rare one” case warranting capital punishment, the Bombay High Court has commuted the death sentence awarded to two men convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 22-year-old Nashik businessman’s son for ransom in 2013 to 30 years of rigorous imprisonment without remission.

HC commutes death penalty of 2 in 2013 Nashik murder to 30-yr term

A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande upheld the conviction of Chetan Pagare and Aman Prakatsingh Jat for abducting and murdering Vipin Bafna after his father refused to pay the ₹1-crore ransom they had demanded.

The bench observed that the convicts had acted in a pre-planned and concerted manner, kidnapped a man known to them and murdered him by inflicting multiple injuries. The crime was definitely “abhorrent,” the court said, but added that brutality alone could not justify imposing the capital punishment.

The high court also took into account the young ages of the convicts, who were 22 and 25 years old at the time of the offence in 2013, while commuting their sentence to life imprisonment for a fixed term of 30 years without remission.

On June 13, Gulabchand received another call and told the caller he was ready to pay but wanted to speak to his son first but the other person disconnected the call.

The following day, Vipin’s body was found in an agricultural field near Adgaon village, around 10 km from Nashik.

During the investigation, police arrested five persons. The Nashik sessions court acquitted three accused but sentenced Pagare and Jat to death, holding that they had stabbed Vipin 26 times after failing to secure the ransom, making it a “rarest of rare” case.

The convicts then approached the high court. Hearing the convicts’ appeals with the reference for confirmation of the death sentence, the court upheld their conviction but held that the capital punishment was excessive and disproportionate.

The bench concluded that the offence was “inhuman, cruel and ruthless” and deserved a stringent sentence, but not the death penalty and sentenced the duo to 30-year jail term without remission.