Seven persons have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court at Akot tehsil town here for conspiring and murdering a five-year-old boy in 2010.
Atharv Baringe, who lived with his parents at Wadgaon Rothe village in Telhara taluka of the district, had gone missing from the courtyard of his house on December 27, 2010.
Later, his body was found stuffed in a gunny bag near a nullah along the village. The body bore injuries inflicted by a screw driver and a spear, police had said.
The boy was murdered following an old enmity with the family of one Ramesh Wankhade.
Incidentally, Atharv was last seen by Wankhade.
Later, police arrested seven accused - Sidhhartha, Ramesh, Rahul, Nagesh, Vikram, Parmeshwar and Mahendra - of different Wankhade families in the same village in connection with the murder.
The state government appointed special public prosecutor Vinod Fate, who presented the circumstantial evidences before the court.
Additional sessions judge Chandrakant Saindani awarded life imprisonment to all the accused last evening while finding them guilty under sections 302 (murder) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The court also sentenced them to 10-year rigorous imprisonment under IPC section 364 (kidnapping), 5-year RI under section 201 (destroying evidence) of IPC along with a fine of Rs 22,400.
Meanwhile, defence lawyers Munna Khan and Dildar Khan said the accused would prefer appealing against their conviction in High Court.
