Man sentenced to life imprisonment for killing wife, stepdaughter

The convict, Asha Ram, strangled his wife to death and also murdered his stepdaughter after she suspected his hand in her mother’s disappearance

The Gurgaon district court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to a man held guilty of murdering his wife and step daughter and burying them in a plot in Manesar to evade detection.

The court relied on circumstantial evidence while awarding the life sentence to Asha Ram. (HT PHOTO)

The Gurgaon district and sessions Judge Harnam Singh Thakur, relying on strong circumstantial evidence that also included a DNA report, held accused Asha Ram guilty under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on Friday. The quantum of sentence was announced on Saturday and the accused was also given 3-year jail term for disappearance of evidence and this sentence shall run concurrent with the life term.

Public prosecutor Anurag Hooda said that despite witnesses turning hostile, the prosecution relied on strong circumstantial evidence that included the DNA profiling of the remains of deceased Updesh and Jyoti, exhumation of the bodies of the victims, which connected the accused to the murder.

“It often gets difficult for the prosecution to build a strong case against the accused when witnesses turn hostile. However, in this case, the circumstantial evidence was gathered meticulously and it ensured conviction and punishment of the accused,” Hooda said.

According to the case details, Asha Ram, a resident of Charki Dadri in Bhiwani, strangled his wife Sudesh (30) to death on May 15, 2015. He buried the body in a piece of land, which was adjacent to the plot in sector 7 Manesar, where he ran a tea shop.

Four days later, on May 19, 2015 Asha Ram killed his step daughter Jyoti (13) after she started suspecting him of having a role in the disappearance of her mother, the police said. The accused buried Jyoti in the same plot. However, a few days later, stray dogs dug up her remains and were even found feasting on them, the police said.

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A complaint in this regard was filed by Satender Pandey on May 24, 2015, who also told police that the accused had been absconding for the last two weeks. Asha Ram was arrested a day later by the police and was booked for murder and disappearance of his wife and step daughter.

It was also revealed that the accused had been introduced to his wife Sudesh by a friend identified as Gautam in 2011 and after some time, both got married. Both Asha Ram and Sudesh lived together for around four years, but differences cropped them among two later and it was after a quarrel that Asha Ram strangled his wife to death.

The accused had been lodged in Bhondsi Jail since then, and on Friday was convicted of the double murder.