New Delhi

Life imprisonment for three

New Delhi: Three persons were on Saturday awarded life imprisonment by a Delhi court in a case in which a man abducted by them killed himself due to torture during captivity five years ago.

Additional Sessions Judge P. S. Malik also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on the convicts -- Sunny, Shyam Sunder and Rahul -- after holding them guilty of kidnapping for ransom under Section 364 A and destruction of evidence under Section 201 of the IPC.

The court ordered that the fine amount should be given to the family members of victim Sanjay Khan, a resident of Shakarpur in East Delhi.

It also took strong exception to the lax probe into the case and suggested departmental action against the Investigating Officer .

Sanjay had gone missing from his residence on November 6, 2004 and a complaint was filed with Mandawali police station by his brother, who suspected involvement of accused Sunny in the offence.

Despite the specific complaint that the kidnappers had also demanded ransom of Rs 21,000 from the victim’s brother, the police did not act, the court noted in its judgement.

Almost a week later, the victim’s decomposed body was found from Madanpur Khadar in sSouth Delhi.

During the investigation, the accused revealed that the victim, who was locked in a house, had committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling. The role of public prosecutor, who did not examine the key witnesses at length, also came under the scanner of the court, which said a copy of the verdict should be forwarded to the Director (prosecution) of the Delhi Government for necessary action. PTI

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