Youth gets life term for murdering man

A youth has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering man here in 2011 by Delhi court which convicted him on the basis of forensic evidence and also that victim was last seen alive with him.

New Delhi: A youth has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a man here in 2011 by a Delhi court which convicted him on the basis of forensic evidence and also that the victim was last seen alive with him. The court sentenced 27-year-old Sher Singh to life term for killing Surender Singh in September 2011, observing that police had proved the links of chain which led to the victim`s death.

It also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. The court relied on the testimony of the prosecution witnesses, some of whom had said that Surender was last seen alive with Sher, and forensic evidence which proved that the soil found on clothes of the accused and shoes of the victim were similar to that of the place where the body was found. "It is therefore clearly proved by the prosecution that soil found on the clothes of the accused (Sher) and shoes of deceased (Surender) and the soil taken from the fields (from where the body was recovered) were similar in characteristics which connects presence of accused at the time of commission of offence. "...Prosecution has proved the presence of accused with deceased at the place of occurrence," Special Judge Shail Jain said. According to the prosecution, Sher had murdered Surender on the intervening night of September 18 and 19, 2011 in Burari here. It said that as per postmortem report, the victim had died due to drowning. An FIR was lodged on the statement of victim`s mother, who said her son had gone out with Sher on the evening of September 18, 2011, the police said, adding that Sher was arrested on September 21, 2011. Sarita Devi, mother of Surender, had deposed that on the evening of September 18, 2011, Sher had come to her house and had called her son, after which the duo had left together. Surender and Sher used to take liquor together, she said. The victim did not return home after which they searched for him but could not trace him, she said, adding that on the next day, one of her neighbours informed her that Surender was lying dead near a drain in Burari. Surender`s mother had also deposed that there had been a quarrel between Sher and her son due to which she did not want her son to accompany the accused. During the trial, Sher claimed that he was implicated in the case as relatives of Surender, one of whom was an employee of Delhi Police, had lodged the case against him to save the persons who had committed the crime. Sher`s counsel argued that there was no direct evidence and no eyewitness in the case, which is based only on circumstantial evidence. The court, however, convicted him observing that police has established that Sher was in the company of Surender when he was last seen alive. "I am satisfied that all the links in chain are complete and the evidence led by prosecution pointed out only to one conclusion that the accused (Sher) is guilty. I, therefore, convict the accused for the offence punishable under section 302 (murder) of the IPC," the judge said. PTI