Man sentenced to life term for rape, murder

Kanpur: Additional sessions judge Kanpur Nagar Shesh Bahadur Nishad on Friday convicted accused Kamal Sharma to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 14,000 for committing rape and murder.

The court also sentenced co-accused Dharmendra to two years' rigorous imprisonment for failing to inform the police about the murder. According to additional district government counsel Pradyumn Awasthi, the main accused Kamal had taken the deceased's mobile phone and television from her house to disguise the incident as loot and murder.

He kept both the mobile phone and television at Dharmendra's house in Jarauli phase-1. The court concluded that Dharmendra had knowledge of the murder but failed to inform the police, hence sentenced him to two years' imprisonment with a fine of Rs one thousand. The incident occurred on May 19, 2011. Pramendra Kumar Sharma of Arra Bingawan village in his report lodged at the Barra police station stated that he had gone to his shop in the morning, leaving his wife at home. One Ashok Kumar Yadav informed him around 5 pm. that the house was locked. Subsequently, a neighbour named Sunny reached his shop stating that the house was locked and the pet goat was crying.

Upon returning home and forcing the door open, he discovered his wife's body lying in a pool of blood on the floor. His neighbour Rakesh Tiwari's wife informed that around 2 pm, a man had visited, and since the deceased knew him, she was talking with him. That person presumably had killed the woman and stole the television and mobile. The post-mortem report confirmed rape and murder. Awasthi stated that during the investigation, Kamal's name emerged, who was the complainant's friend. He had visited Pramendra's house that day and committed rape. When the woman threatened to lodge an FIR against him, he killed her by striking with a stone. He then took her mobile and television to disguise it as loot and murder.