Court awards man death penalty, mother and sister get life-term

Guwahati: A local court on Saturday gave death sentence to a man for burning alive fellow college student Shweta Agarwal in 2017. The fast-track court of Kamrup also awarded life term to his mother and sister for murder, tampering of evidence and criminal conspiracy. Sessions Judge Aparesh Chackraborty had convicted Govind Singhal, his mother Kamala Devi and sister Bhawani on July 30 for the murder of Shweta, the state topper in commerce stream of class 12 examination in 2015. Pronouncing the quantum of punishment on Saturday, the judge said that Singhal killed the woman in a premeditated cold-blooded manner. Her charred body was found in the washroom of Singhal’s house at Bharalumukh area in Guwahati on December 4, 2017. Singhal and Agarwal were students of the same college and he had brought her to their residence after her exam. Agarwal’s family lawyer Abhijit Bhattacharjee told reporters that there were 13 injury marks on her body, and the post-mortem report stated that she was burnt alive after the injuries were inflicted on her. “We provided proof before the court that Singhal’s mother and sister had helped him in assaulting her and burning her alive as a single person cannot inflict 13 wounds,” Bhattacharjee said. A relative of her said that Agarwal was never Singhal’s girlfriend as reported in a section of the media but it was a one-sided affair. A document of 16th November, 2017, in which she said “my answer is no and always is no” proved Singhal’s motive for killing her, Bhattacharjee said without explaining what sort of document it was. After the verdict, Agarwal’s father told reporters that his daughter got justice and thanked the court for the judgment. The defence counsel said that they would move the high court against the verdict. The three were sent to the Guwahati Central Jail. (PTI)