Rajasthan man awarded death penalty, wife gets life term in murder case

Kota: A court in Rajasthan's Kota has awarded death sentence to a man and life imprisonment to his wife in a five-year-old robbery and murder case here.

An additional district judge [ADJ] on Wednesday pronounced the verdict, holding the man guilty of looting and murdering a couple at their home in the city and his wife of cooperating in the crime and managing the robbed jewelery and valuables.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the convicts. Terming the crime as "rarest of the rare", the court observed culprits of such heinous crimes cannot be left in society with less than death penalty and life imprisonment.

A share broker, Rajendra Agrawal and his wife Geeta Devi, both in their late 50s were found bludgeoned to death at their house in city's Talwandi area. Gold and silver jewelery worth around Rs 80-90 lakh was also robbed from the house.

A case of murder and loot was registered at the Jawahar Nagar Police Station against Jagdish Chand, who was Agarwal's driver, and his wife Shimla Devi.

 ADJ Rajiv Kumar Bijlani held Chand guilty of the brutal murders and awarded him death penalty, public prosecutor (PP) Ritesh Mewara said. The court also held Chand's wife guilty of cooperating the accused and in managing the robbed jewelery and valuables and sentenced her to life imprisonment, he added. The accused was arrested and the jewelery was recovered from his possession.

Chand was in jail since his arrest while his wife was earlier granted bail, Mewara said. In the 130-page judgment, the court observed punishing culprits of such heinous crimes with less than death penalty and life imprisonment would be injustice and convey unfair message in the society, the PP said, adding statements of as many as 28 witnesses were recorded in the court during the trial.