(Reopens Del 74)

The court, however, turned down Jha's plea for leniency saying that the manner of killing is "extremely brutal, grotesque and diabolical so as to arouse intense and extreme indignation of the community." "Mental/physical suffering inflicted on the victim before his death is immense. There is significant degree of planning on the part of Jha while committing the murder," it said. The judge said the intention of the convict was to cause public outrage only because he wanted to avenge the wrong done to him by the police system in falsely implicating him in cases and to some extend he succeed in it. While holding that the case falls within the category of "rarest of rare case", the court said that the murder of Mandal was in cold blood without any immediate provocation by the victim. Meanwhile, the court also issued notice to DIG (Prisons) of Tihar Jail for tomorrow seeking his reply if it is feasible to shift Jha from jail number 3 to jail number 2 as he wishes to work there. The convict has moved an application seeking to shift him in Jail number 2 saying in Jail number 3, he has to remain idle for the whole day while he wants to do some work which is possible only if he is shifted to the other jail. Jha was earlier arrested in 1998 in connection with a murder case but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. In December 2007, a Delhi court had acquitted him after the police had failed to file charge sheet against him in another murder case. The police had said Jha had invited his victims to stay with him and took good care of them. After some time, he would get annoyed with them easily and took offence to their activities, it had said.