A man has been sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi court for trying to kill a call centre cab driver while robbing his vehicle.
Additional Sessions Judge Vijay Kumar Dahiya handed down the jail term to Delhi resident Mukesh after it found that he, "in furtherance of his common intention with co-accused, had committed the offence".
Co-accused Raju, Deepak and Ajay were not traced during pendency of the trial and, therefore, they were declared absconders by the court.
"Having considered the submissions made and taking into account the mitigating and aggravating circumstances, convict Mukesh is sentenced to ten years of rigorous imprisonment for the offence punishable under section 397 (robbery or dacoity) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC," the judge said, while imposing Rs 15,000 as costs on the convict.
Mukesh was arrested in the case after victim Mithlesh Jha had lodged a complaint with the police alleging that his vehicle was robbed on the intervening night of May 18-19, 2009 by a group of four persons.
He had informed the police that when he was on his way to Gurgaon after dropping the call centre employees in Delhi, one of the accused was walking on the road in drunken condition.
He applied the brake to save the man. Suddenly three others hiding in the bushes came out and attacked him with a knife and also fired a gun shot. Later, the accused fled from the spot, snatching his vehicle.
During the trial, Mukesh claimed that he has been falsely implicated by the complainant.
However, the judge turned down his plea, observing, "I am of the opinion that Mukesh was identified by Jha and this part of his testimony is found reliable and I have no hesitation in relying upon the same for establishing the identity of accused and his involvement in the present case.
