A CBI court here today awarded death sentence to a man for killing his wife, three children and two neighbours eight years ago as the wife was opposed to his illicit relationship with his sister-in-law.
Holding that the case fell into the "rarest of rare" category, the Special CBI Court said the convict, Sarvan, would be a threat to the society and as such, he was no longer entitled to live on earth and ordered that he be hanged till death.
The court then referred the matter to the high court as a death penalty has to be confirmed by it before its execution.
Pronouncing the verdict, Special CBI Judge Harish Tripathi also sentenced Sarvan's sister-in-law Suman to four years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped a Rs-2,000 fine on her, after holding her guilty of removing evidence in the case.
The court also slapped a Rs-7,000 fine on Sarvan.
In his 61-page verdict, the judge said Sarvan was married and had three children but even then, he committed the "massacre to quench his thirst of lust" and the manner in which he eliminated his family and the neighbours -- "his act was not less than that of a devil".
"Not only two families suffered on account of his act, but he became a threat to the society," the judge said, adding that Sarvan "butchered" the family he was supposed to look after.
"In such circumstances, if he comes out of jail, he may kill his neighbours and others and as such, it is dangerous to allow him to remain alive," he said and added that since the case fell into the "rarest of rare" category, life imprisonment would not be an adequate punishment for Sarvan.
Earlier, demanding capital punishment for the convict, government pleader Shashi Pathak said Sarvan killed his wife Santoshi (35), children Ravi (a-year-and-a-half), Sumiran (4) and Ramroop (6), only because his wife would object to his illicit relationship with his sister-in-law.
Besides, he added that the convict also killed his neighbour Madhuri (50) and her son Rajendra (11), who had tried to intervene in order to save the four other deceased.
Thus, he contended that it was a "massacre committed in a fully conscious state of mind" and hence, the convict deserved nothing less than the death penalty.
The FIR in the case was lodged by Kolai, the husband of Madhuri, at the Mohanlalganj police station on April 25, 2009.
In the FIR, the complainant had stated that Sarvan was his neighbour and that it was known to the villagers that he had an illicit relationship with his elder brother's wife, to which his wife would often object.
He also alleged that on the day of the incident, he heard a woman crying from the house of Sarvan, who was yelling that he would kill his wife and children.
The FIR went on to add that it was Santoshi who was crying for help and when Madhuri rushed to save her, she saw Sarvan coming out of the house with a blood-soaked axe.
The convict told Madhuri that he had killed Santoshi and the children and would now kill her as well as she always tried to save them, the FIR said.
Thereafter, Sarvan hacked Madhuri to death with the axe and also assaulted her son Rajendra and daughter Sangita, it said, adding that the boy subsequently succumbed to his injuries.
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