Delhi High Court awards life term to servant, commutes death penalty in double murder case

New Delhi: Negating a local court ruling, the High Court on Friday commuted death penalty and awarded life term to a domestic help for murdering an elderly woman and her 12-year-old grandson here in 2007.

In 2010, holding that the offence of Mithilesh Kumar Singh fell in the category of "rarest of rare" case, a Delhi Court had awarded death sentence to the accused.

The court had on July 1, 2010 convicted him for the offences of murder, attempt to murder, robbery and for destroying evidence under the IPC.

Singh, a resident of Samastipur in Bihar, had killed Karamveer (12) and his maternal grandmother Surjit Kaur, 60, in their house at Vasant Kunj in south Delhi on March 2, 2007.

The convict, who was working as a domestic help, sedated their pet dog and killed them before decamping with valuables, and cash.

He was apprehended with the help of Mehar Legha, 15, sister of the deceased boy.

The girl, who was also attacked by the domestic help, had raised an alarm which led to the accused being apprehended.

The girl was later honoured with the national bravery award in 2008.

Besides Mehar, her mother Manjit Legha, a teacher of Delhi Public School, Noida, and her husband, a retired army officer, had also testified in the case.