New Delhi: Three men have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for murdering a minor after kidnapping him for ransom.
The court also directed the convicts to pay Rs 90,000 to the bereaved family for causing them "loss of love and affection".
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Kumar Goyal awarded life imprisonment to Bhajan Singh, 33, Joginder Singh, 32, and Ashok, 33, holding them guilty of murdering an 8-year-old child and and throwing his body in a drain.
The court also rejected their plea expressing inability to pay compensation due to their modest background as they were not even able to hire an advocate and were represented by amicus curiae.
"...On account of loss of love and affection due to death of Wasim, a compensation of Rs 30,000 is imposed upon each convict and total of Rs 90,000 are awarded in favour of the parents of the child...In default of payment of compensation, each convict shall undergo six month simple imprisonment," the court said.
It also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them.
The trio had on July 11, 2004 allured Wasim, a student of Sachdeva Public School here, while he was on his way to buy a kite on his bicycle.
Wasim`s father Yunus deposed that he received a phone call from the convicts who asked him to reach Sonipat with Rs 25 lakh ransom for his son`s release. Yunus contacted the police, who tracked the mobile number being used by the trio and nabbed them on July 15, 2004 from a house in northwest Delhi.
On their instance, police recovered a gunny bag from Jagatpur drain. Wasim`s body was found in the gunny bag which also contained bricks. His bicycle was also recovered.
"The prosecution has been able to complete the chain of circumstantial evidence against the accused persons to the extent that they committed murder of Wasim by strangulating him and disposed of his body in a drain and also concealed his bicycle," the court said.
PTI
