Prashanth
A sessions court yesterday sentenced to death two college students guilty of kidnapping and killing an eight-year-old schoolboy here two years ago.
Sessions court principal judge Kishore K Sonawane pronounced the verdict against Rajesh D Davare (19) and his friend Arvind A Singh (23) as thousands of people thronged the court premises.
The duo - students at the city’s PWS College of Arts and Commerce - was charged with the kidnapping and brutal murder of schoolboy, Yug Chandak, by inflicting 26 wounds on his body, which was recovered from a remote place here a day after the killing on September 1, 2014.
A third accused - the 17-year-old brother of one of the two killers, who was a co-conspirator in the crime - has been sent to a juvenile remand home.
The victim’s father, Mukesh Chandak, a noted medico, welcomed the judgment and said “this will serve as a strong message to society”.
“We welcome the ruling and are satisfied that justice has been done; our child will not return, but it will prevent such crimes in future. This will serve as a strong message to society,” an emotional Chandak said.
On Wednesday, principal judge Sonawane found the duo guilty under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 201 (destroying evidences) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), for their first ever criminal offence. The order on the quantum of punishment was reserved for yesterday.
Rejecting the plea by defence lawyers Pradeep Agrawal and Manmohan Upadhyay for life sentence, the court said that though it was a first offence, it was not accidental and the crime was premeditated, planned and executed calmly.
“Merely because they are young does not reduce the seriousness of the crime,” judge Sonawane ruled, adding that there was no question of leniency for the offence.
The crime was apparently to avenge the alleged humiliation meted out to Davare who worked as an accountant in Chandak’s office and was accused of some financial misappropriation.
Along with his accomplices, Davare planned the kidnapping and murder of the boy.
On the fateful day, Yug returned from school around 5pm and went out to play.
Davare and Singh lay in wait for him on a motorcycle near the gate and after speaking briefly with them, Yug went with them. He failed to return that night and the next morning a search was launched for the missing boy.
The police traced Yug’s body to a drainage pipe in a gutter near Lonkheri village, around 25km on the outskirts of Nagpur.
