E-Paper
J’khand court sentences 15 to death for inmate’s murder
Lawyer Balai Panda, who is representing convicts Md. Tauqir and Shoaib Akhtar, said they will challenge the conviction before high court.
A trial court in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district on Thursday awarded death penalty to 15 people convicted of killing an inmate of Ghaghidih Central Jail in Jamshedpur during a clash between two groups in 2019.
The court of additional district judge Rajendra Prasad Sinha also sentenced seven other convicts to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
The case pertains to the killing of Manoj Singh, who was serving a term of 10 years at Ghaghidih Central Jail in a dowry case. On June 25, 2019, he was killed in a brutal fight between a group of convicts and undertrials in the prison.
Another inmate, Sumit Singh, was injured in the fight.
“A case related to the incident was registered with Parsudih police station. The court today held 15 accused of killing Singh guilty under sections 302 (murder) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and served them with death penalty,” additional public prosecutor Rajiv Kumar told reporters after the conviction.
“The court also awarded seven others a prison term of 10 years after holding them guilty under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of IPC for causing grievous injury to Sumit Singh,” Kumar added.
Those who have were awarded death sentence were Shaymu Jojo, Panchanan Patro, Pinku Purti, Ajay Mallah, Arup Kumar Bose, Ramrai Surin, Ramay Karua, Gangadhar Khandait, Rameshwar Angaria, Gopal Tiria, Sharat Gope, Vasudev Mahto, Jani Ansara, Shiv Shankar Paswan and Sanjay Diggi.
Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Tauqir, Ajit Das, Sonu Lal, Sumit, Rishi Lohar and Saurabh Singh were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Lawyer Balai Panda, who is representing convicts Md. Tauqir and Shoaib Akhtar, said they will challenge the conviction before high court.
“The case been decided on poor evidence i.e. only on the basis of CCTV footage. No one came forward to identify the accused. Even the victim who was injured was not brought before the court and examined. Hopefully we will get relief in higher court,” added Panda.
