Chhattisgarh court awards death penalty to three for killing cop’s wife, minor daughter

A Fast Track Court in Chhattisgarh awarded death penalty to three men and life imprisonment to another for killing the wife and 11-year-old daughter of a police head constable in 2024

A Fast Track Court (FTC) in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district on Thursday awarded death penalty to three men and life imprisonment to another for killing the wife and 11-year-old daughter of a police head constable in 2024, a government counsel said.

The woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by Sahu and his associates before she and her daughter were killed

District and Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) Anand Prakash Wariyal convicted all four accused and awarded the death penalty to three of them—Kuldeep Sahu (32), Chandrakant Chaudhary (28) and Phool Singh alias Rinku (28), government counsel Suresh Sharma said.

Another accused, Aryan Vishwakarma alias Goldy (20), was sentenced to life imprisonment, he said.

According to police, Sahu, a repeat offender, killed the 35-year-old woman and her daughter at their home in Surajpur city on October 13, 2024, with the help of his associates.

The prosecution told the court that the woman was also sexually assaulted before she and her daughter were killed. The woman had 33 injury marks on her body while the child had 28, Sharma said.

“The gravity of the offence was very serious and it was committed without any provocation,” Sharma said, adding that he cited Supreme Court judgments to argue that punishment to the accused should serve as a deterrent and prevent similar crimes.

The elder brother of the police head constable welcomed the verdict.

“It is a good decision. We were expecting such a verdict. This decision will help us cope with the grief. Our family has suffered immensely. We are satisfied with the verdict,” he said.

According to police, Sahu had been externed from Surajpur by an order of the district magistrate but was present in the city on October 13, 2024.

That night, he allegedly threw hot oil at constable Ghanshyam Soni, who was deployed along the route of a Durga idol immersion procession. Soni tried to apprehend him.

Police said Chaudhary, who was then president of the Surajpur district unit of NSUI, along with Vishwakarma and Singh, was also present at the spot.

Following the incident, the head constable and other personnel of Surajpur police station launched a search for Sahu. When they located him and tried to arrest him, he allegedly attempted to run them over with a car.

Sahu then fled and entered the head constable’s house, where he attacked his wife and daughter, police said.

The woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by Sahu and his associates before she and her daughter were killed. Their bodies were later dumped at Pidha village, around four kilometres from their house, police said.

Sahu and the three other accused were later arrested and tried before the Fast Track Court.