Ramgarh: A court in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district on Friday sentenced gangster Aman Srivastava and his associate Lakhan Sao to life imprisonment in connection with the 2015 murder of Kameshwar Pandey.
The judgment was delivered by the court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge-I, which also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on both convicts.
Earlier on May 7, the court had found both accused guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy. After hearing arguments on sentencing, the court on Friday awarded life imprisonment under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
The court also sentenced them to life imprisonment under Section 120B of the IPC for criminal conspiracy, along with an additional fine of Rs 10,000 each. Under Section 27 of the Arms Act, both convicts were awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined another Rs 10,000 each. The court said failure to pay the fines would lead to an additional one year of rigorous imprisonment.
Security arrangements were tightened around the court premises during the pronouncement of the verdict.
The case relates to the murder of 70-year-old Kameshwar Pandey, a resident of Patratu, who was shot dead on October 26, 2015, while visiting a local vegetable market. According to the prosecution, shooters linked to the Srivastava gang opened indiscriminate fire, killing him on the spot.
An FIR in the case was lodged by Pawan Kishore Pandey. During the trial, the court observed that Aman Srivastava had conspired to carry out the murder to establish dominance and spread terror in the area. Investigators also found that the victim had no criminal background or links to unlawful activities.
Police had named Ganesh Singh alias Jayprakash Singh, Lakhan Sao and Aman Srivastava as accused in the case. However, due to insufficient evidence and a lack of witnesses, the prosecution could not establish charges against Ganesh Singh, who was acquitted by the court.
The prosecution was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor Shraddha Jaya Topno, while the defence side was argued by Jharkhand High Court advocate B.N. Tripathi and Ramgarh-based advocate Mahendra Mahato.
With inputs from IANS