The curiosity of a rape convict couple to know about a dead woman through RTI proved costly for them as it helped police establish their involvement in three murders, leading a local court to sentence them to life.
Kanhaiya Lal Seth and his wife Usha Rani, who were serving seven year jail term in the rape case of a minor, had sought information under RTI about a dead woman, Wazero, whose photograph was published in media for identification.
After the RTI was filed in 2007, a probe was conducted in which it was found that Wazero was the mother of the minor for whose rape Seth was convicted while his wife was held guilty of abetting the crime. The couple was also held guilty for forcing the victim into prostitution.
During the probe, it was also found that the duo had murdered Wazero and her two minor sons -- Chillu and Ashu.
Additional Sessions Judge Pinki sentenced the duo to life imprisonment with the direction that they would not be released from prison for the rest of their lives.
The ASJ refrained from awarding death sentences saying it was a rare case but not the rarest of rare.
Wazero and her sons were murdered in 2004. Wazero's body body was recovered from near Kashmere Gate post office on May 13, 2004, while the bodies of her sons were found in a carton near New Delhi Railway Station on April 19, 2004.
Police were trying to locate the kin of the dead woman for which the publicity was launched.
While serving the sentence in the rape case, Seth in his RTI application had sought details of the dead woman as he had noticed that the photograph in the advertisement had her name engraved on her hand.
