Dubai: Four Indian men have been
sentenced to death in Sharjah after being convicted of murder
in two separate cases, including one which involved contract
killers hired by a businessman to kill his rival.
The Sharjah Sharia Court sentenced three Indian men,
who acted as contract killers, for the brutal murder of a
compatriot and for attempting to kill another.
The three men identified as Zakaria, Basheer and Anwar
were hired by a businessman named Kumar for killing his former
employee turned business rival Kumil, who according to the
mastermind was poaching away his customers.
The three men were also awarded a separate 10-year
jail sentence for attempting to murder another man named
Kuzantil.
Basheer and Anwar will also be subjected to 80 lashes
after they were found guilty of alcohol consumption, the Gulf
News reported.
Two other men accused in the case -- Fakher Al Deen
and Abdul Majeed -- were given five-year jail terms for aiding
and abetting the crime, while Kumar was sentenced to 15 years
in jail for masterminding the crime.
The three men with prison terms will be deported after
serving their sentences, the paper said.
According to court records, Kumil had died instantly
after being repeatedly clubbed and stabbed while the second
victim Kuzantil had managed to flee and reach a hospital.
The men were apprehended after the police reached the
spot and found Kumil's body lying in a pool of blood.
Kumil, who earlier worked with Kumar in the plastic
bag business, had started his own business later and was
poaching away his former employee's customers, Kumar had told
police.
Kumar, had however denied that he had ordered the
killing of the victim, and said he had only asked the
co-accused "to break Kumil's leg".
Prosecutors said Kumar had offered to give the men Dh
4,000 (roughly Rs 50,000) and paid a Dh 2,000 down-payment to
Zakaria, who in turn commissioned the other accused to whom he
paid Dh 200 each.
Kumar also claimed that the victim used to call and
harass his family over the phone and was provoking his
workers, the paper said.
In another case, an Indian worker was sentenced to
death in Sharjah for premeditatedly beating another man to
death.
The Sharjah Sharia Court awarded death to a
35-year-old man identified only as S S, for beating an
unidentified man to death in a labour accommodation.
PTI
First Published: Monday, July 12, 2010, 19:49