SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya has upheld the order of the fast track court in awarding life imprisonment to two of the accused in the kidnap and murder of a nine-year-old boy in Tura.
The court also awarded life imprisonment to another accused after the fast track court had earlier fixed only 14 years of jail sentence to him. The three accused, Suraj Gupta, Sobraj Sonar and Ajay Das had kidnapped the nine-year-old boy, son of Baliram Singh of Fancy Valley, Tura for ransom of Rs 50 lakh in 2006.
Later, they strangulated the boy, dumped the body in a gunny bag on the Tura –Williamnagar road. Even after killing the boy, the trio had demanded ransom from the father.
While Sobraj passed away, the two accused, Suraj and Ajay had filed an appeal in the High Court of Meghalaya against the earlier conviction order of the fast track court.
Earlier in 2007, the additional sessions judge, Tura had awarded death penalty to the trio. Following this, they had filed an appeal before the Shillong Bench of the Gauhati High Court and secured an interim stay in 2010, but the matter was referred to the trial court for further evidence and hearing. Later, the case was sent to a fast track court and while Suraj and Sobraj were awarded life imprisonment, Ajay was sentenced to imprisonment for 14 years in 2014. However, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice H S Thangkhiew in the order awarded life imprisonment to all the accused.
