Published On : Thu, Feb 4th, 2016

Judgment is Out#Death for Yug killers; parents repose faith in jury, Nagpur hails verdict

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fansi1Nagpur: In an emotionally charged, rather unprecedented sentence, that could set an alarm before the invaders of innocence, the district and sessions court in Nagpur sent the kidnappers and killers of 8 year old Yug Chandak to noose – to be hanged till death. Both the convicts Rajesh Dhanalal Daware (19) and his friend Arvind Abhilash Singh (23) burst into tears as soon the Principal Judge KK Sonawane announced his verdict in a packed court room on Thursday. The perpetrators, both BCom first year students of from PWS College, Kamptee Road, were pronounced death sentence under sections 364-A (kidnapping for ransom) and 302 (murder) respectively, life imprisonment and penalty of Rs 10000 under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and five years term along with Rs 5000 penalty for destroying the evidence.

The parents of Yug Chandak heaved a sigh of relief and reposed faith in the jury after the judgment. The decision was welcomed by hordes of citizens who were keenly awaiting the final verdict. Yesterday the arguments from the side were heard and the verdict was posted for today.

Daware’s 17-year-old younger brother, who assisted accused in conspiracy, was already referred to Juvenile Remand Home. About 26 injuries, including those on the neck, were found on the Yug’s body.

None of the 50 witness examined by the prosecution turned hostile, which is perhaps rare in such high-profile murder cases, as per additional public prosecutor Jyoti Vajani, Chandak family’s counsel Rajendra Daga and investigation officer (IO) from Lakadganj Police Station Satyanarayan Jaiswal. According to them, they brought to fore as many as 20 circumstances to prove complicity of the accused in the crime.

With a view to take revenge from Dr Mukesh Chandak for what Daware claimed as humiliation meted out to him by the doctor and extract ransom, Daware hatched the conspiracy to kidnap and kill Yug, a second standard student of Centre Point School, Wardhaman Nagar branch. The duo executed their plan and brutally killed the child by strangulating him on September 1, 2014.

They later buried his body in sand under pipes near a culvert on the desolate Gumthi-Gumthala Road near Patansawangi village, 27 kms from Nagpur.

The duo had planned their escape after receiving money, but were arrested on the next day after Chandak family raised suspicion on Daware. During intense interrogation, both the accused confessed to killing the boy and led the investigators to the spot where they had buried the child’s body.

The incident shook the conscience of Nagpurians and most joined hands to condole Yug’s death. Candle marches were taken out in support of the Chandak family and demanded death for the perpetrators of innocent child’s killing.

The court relied on a number of factors apart from strong testimony of 50 witnesses to nail the culprits. It included CCTV footage at a petrol pump where the accused filled up their bike’s tank after kidnapping the child, last seen theory of many witnesses, recovery of child’s clothes from the spot shown by accused and Yug’s earring which was traced to Arvind Singh’s home. Even the call details records and more importantly, the testimony of Daware’s girlfriend, went against them.

Two school students from Patansawangi village, who saw the duo taking Yug on their bikes, were also made witnesses by the prosecution after requesting their parents.

Yug chandak father in court priAccording to police, Daware was familiar with the place where body was buried as he often used to take his girlfriend to Adasa and take a break at the spot while returning.

The prosecution lawyers had already cited three landmark Supreme Court verdicts including that of Bacchan Singh of 1983, to press for death penalty to the accused while terming the case as “rarest of rare” with no signs of reformation of the two accused.

It was the second such diabolic killing in the city in three years after another 8-year-old boy Kush Katariya was similarly killed by Ayush Pugalia on October 11, 2011, to extracting Rs 2 crore ransom from his parents. Fittingly, he was awarded a rare double lifer by the court, which was enhanced to triple lifer by the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court.

 

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