Minakhsi Thapa murder case: Mumbai sessions court sentences 2 junior artists to life

The duo abducted and beheaded the aspiring actor in March 2012

The Mumbai sessions court on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment the two junior artists convicted for kidnapping and killing an aspiring actor, Minakhsi Thapa.

Thapa was abducted by the culprits on the promise of a work assignment. (HT FILE)

Thapa was kidnapped and killed in the servants’ quarters at Darbhanga Colony in Allahabad on March 14, 2012. Amit Jaiswal and Preeti Surin aka Alvina had taken Thapa to Allahabad under the pretext of a film shoot assignment. They later beheaded her and asked for a ransom of Rs15 lakh from her mother.

Sessions court judge SG Shete held Jaiswal and Surin guilty of all offences they were charged with: murder, kidnapping, extortion and criminal conspiracy.

The prosecution had examined 35 witnesses against the two, including Surin’s father and cousin, who had last seen Thapa with the convicts.

The prosecution claimed that, Thapa, an aspiring actor, came to Mumbai from Dehradun and met Jaiswal and Surin on the sets of a film. The two men also aspired to make a career in Bollywood. Thapa told them she belonged to an affluent family, so they conspired to kidnap her for a ransom.

The prosecution claimed that the trio went to see Surin’s father, a watchman at a women’s hostel, who was staying in a servants’ quarters in Allahabad. It was at Surin’s father’s quarters that Thapa was allegedly decapitated.

According to the testimony of Johan, Surin’s brother, he was kept out of the quarters until Surin and Jaiswal were gone. He said when he finally entered the quarters, he realised that a knife from the house was missing.

The police suspected that the knife was used in the murder. According to the prosecution, Surin and Jaiswal disposed of the body in a septic tank near the quarters. According to the prosecution, the two disposed of Thapa’s body in a septic tank near Surin’s father’s quarters.

The duo was held on April 14, 2012 near Bandra railway station, when they came to withdraw money using Thapa’s debit card.