A Delhi court has asked a man, found guilty of robbing a businessman, to return the looted money as compensation though no recovery was made from him.
“Anyone who does not hesitate to take the law into his hands for pure monetary reasons does not deserve any leniency and the indulgence by the court, under these circumstances, can be misplaced,” Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said.
The court convicted Baldev Singh Negi of robbery and sentenced him to three years in jail, a period that he had already served while being in judicial custody.
Besides the prison term, the court also imposed a fine of Rs. 55,000 on the 38-year-old convict.
Out of the total amount, a sum of Rs. 50,000 (his share of looted money) would be paid to victim Ramesh Aggarwal while a sum of Rs. 5,000 would be deposited with the State.
Referring to a Supreme court judgement, the court said instances of youths getting involved in criminal activities like robbing innocent persons by putting them under threat of death are on the rise.
“Trigger-friendly criminal unhesitatingly and indiscriminately use dangerous firearms on helpless victims who may or (may) not offer any resistance thereby spreading terror in the society and adversely affecting social order and the faith of people in the system.
“There was no previous animosity between the convict and the victim and the intent was solely monetary gain,” the court said.
According to the prosecution, Negi along with other co-accused Satish alias Pappu, Surender Bhatt and Suleman robbed Rs. 2.75 lakh from complainant Aggarwal at a place near Maharaja Aggarsain Park on December four, 2003. While Pappu was declared a proclaimed offender, Bhatt was let off and Suleman expired during the trial.
Though no recovery was effected from convict Negi, he himself had admitted that he spent his share (Rs. 50,000) for his personal use, the court noted.
The court, directing the convict to pay back the money, also took into account the fact that the businessman had identified Negi during the trial.
