Published On : Thu, May 5th, 2022

Nagpur court awards double lifer to youth for killing woman

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Nagpur: A court in Nagpur found an accused youth guilty on charges under Sections 302, 201, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Sections 3 (2) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act and awarded him double life imprisonment in the sensational Urmila Dharne murder case of village Nand in Bhiwapur Taluka of Nagpur district.

The Special Judge Sunil Patil, on Wednesday, awarded double life imprisonment to Roshan Babaji Devke (25) in the murder case. The Special Court also sentenced him to life imprisonment after the charges under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were proved against him. The court sentenced Roshan, Sachin Amrut Gharat (32) and Sunil Arjun Dhone (28), all residents of village Nand, to five years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for destroying evidence. Similarly, the court awarded four years imprisonment to Baba Nemaji Devke (57) for concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life.

According to prosecution, Darasingh Dadmal, a resident of Lonara, had lodged a complaint with Bhiwapur Police that his sister Urmila Gajanan Dharne (40) was missing from village Nand since May 22, 2019. Police then registered a missing report on May 26, 2019. During investigation, police came to know that Roshan Devke was having an affair with Urmila and she was staying with him as his wife for the past six months. During questioning by the police, Roshan spilled the beans. He confessed to killing Urmila by strangulation after a quarrel. With the assistance of Sachin and Sunil, he burried the body in a nullah near village Besur after removing her cloths in a bid to destroy the evidence.

Subsequently, police made correspondence with Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Umrer and Special Executive Officer to get the special squads to exhume the body for conducting inquest panchanama and post-mortem by Medical Officer, Bhiwapur, at the spot itself as the body was decomposed. Following the correspondence, the body was exhumed and autopsy was performed.

Bhiwapur Police arrested Roshan, Sachin, Sunil and Babaji on charges under Sections 302, 201, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Sections 3 (2) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act, following a complaint lodged by deceased’s brother Darasingh Dadmal. Earlier, Police Inspectors Sudhakar Ambhore (Umrer) and Santosh Vairagade (Bhiwapur) were the investigating officers. Later, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Umrer Division) Pournima Tawre took over the probe and chargesheeted Roshan, Sachin, Sunil and Babaji.

As the charges under Sections 302 of the IPC were substantiated against Roshan, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 25,000. For the offence under Sections 3(2)(v) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act, the court also sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 25,000. The court sentenced Roshan, Sachin and Sunil to five years RI with a fine of Rs 1000 each for the offence under Sections 201 and 34 of the IPC. The court awarded Babaji four years RI with a fine of Rs 5000 for the offence under Sections 118 of the IPC. The court directed that all the sentences would run concurrently.

Special Public Prosecutor Adv Prashant Sakhare represented the State. Adv Raju Patwardhan and Adv Nandan Nafde were the defence counsels.