Two persons have been sentenced to life imprisonment for robbing and "brutally" killing a man, by a Delhi court which declined to grant death penalty, saying the case did not fall under the rarest of the rare category.
"No doubt in the present case, convicts had committed the murder of deceased in a brutal and inhuman manner...," Additional Sessions Judge Anil Kumar said.
The court, however, did not favour grant of death penalty to them, saying the case did not fall in the rarest of rare category.
"Crimes, such as murder, are committed for gain and there is nothing exceptionally gruesome about the manner of committing this murder. A murder by its very nature is shocking. But that per se does not justify prayer of death penalty," the judge said while sentencing Uttar Pradesh natives Arun Kumar and Mahender Singh.
According to the prosecution, Arun Kumar, who was the driver of victim Naresh Bhati, shot him dead after robbing him of Rs 2 lakh on July 27, 2010 with the help of Singh.
Bhati's body was found with a bullet wound on the head the next day.
Bhati, a west-Delhi native, was working as a manager in his brother-in-law's firm and as per the prosecution, Arun drove him from office that day.
During trial, Kumar and Singh claimed innocence but the court took note of the last seen evidence put forth by the prosecution through a witness who stated that Bhati had left office with the driver.
The court also relied upon the last phone call made by Bhati to his brother-in-law, informing that he has left the shop with the sale proceeds of the day in his car with Arun.
The court while sentencing to life term to the duo for the offence under section 302 (murder) of IPC, also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on each of them.
It also awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for the two convicts under section 394 of IPC (volountarily causing hurt in commititing robbery) and held that both the sentences will run concurrently.
