A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for allegedly murdering a cab driver after giving him food laced with sedatives to rob his vehicle.
The court sentenced 33-year-old Dalip Singh, a permanent resident of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, to life for murdering Banwari Lal Vyas, a taxi driver, with the aid of his three accomplices in March 2001.
It also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on him.
The court said Singh and his three associates, one of whom was earlier sentenced by the court while two others have been absconding, also tried to kill one Munna Lal and dumped both the victims in a garbage bin here.
Later, it was found that Lal was alive and he was admitted to hospital by police.
"It has duly been established that accused Dalip Singh along with his co-accused persons first hired the vehicle in question from Jaipur through Munna Lal and then took the same to Delhi being driven by Banwari Lal (deceased).
"At Delhi... They dumped their bodies in garbage bin under the assumption that both of them had died," District and Sessions Judge P S Teji said.
One of Singh's associates, Dhirender Singh Tomar, was arrested earlier in connection with the case and was convicted and sentenced in 2007 by the court.
After Tomar's conviction, the police came to know that Singh was lodged in Bareilly Jail and following a court order, he was taken into custody in 2008 to face trial.
The police then filed a supplementary charge sheet against Singh saying they had received information on March 17, 2001, that two bodies were found in a garbage bin in Mayur Vihar here and when they reached the spot, they came to know that one of them was alive.
After treatment, the injured person regained consciousness and told the police that he was Munna Lal and identified Vyas' body.
