Mumbai: The city civil and sessions court on Wednesday sentenced one of four accused to death for kidnapping and killing their boss’ son in 2012. Of the other three accused, one was sentenced to life imprisonment, another was sent to a juvenile remand home while the last was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
According to the prosecution, accused Imtiyaz Sheikh, then 22, and Azad Ansari, then 21, were formerly employed in an embroidery unit in Dharavi, owned by one Rajesh Bhandge.
On May 27, 2012, when Mr. Bhandge was away in Indore, the duo took his son, Shree, for sweets to Juhu Chowpatty and later to a restaurant in Bhiwandi. Here, they were joined by Shakir Ali. After dinner, Ali took Shree to his room, which he shared with a roommate. He told his roommate that Shree was Imtiyaz’s uncle’s son.
The same night, the trio strangulated Shree. His body was stuffed into a gunny bag and thrown into a drain. After disposing of the body, Imtiyaz and the others called Mr. Bhandge and demanded a ransom of ₹25 lakh. Though they used several numbers to make calls, Mr. Bhandge recognised their voices and lodged a complaint with the police.
Circumstantial evidence
The police traced the location of the cell phone numbers, obtained call records and tracked down the accused. During interrogation, it was learnt that a fourth accused named Israr Sheikh was also involved in the conspiracy.
Special Public Prosecutor Mohan Sawant told The Hindu , “There was no direct evidence of the kidnapping, but there was a lot of circumstantial evidence. The post mortem report showed that the boy died due to his lungs being ruptured by broken ribs.”
Among the prosecution witnesses were the man who sold the sweets to Shree at Juhu Chowpatty, a waiter at the Bhiwandi restaurant who served Shree and his kidnappers, and a neighbour near Mr. Bhangde’s unit who identified Imtiyaz and Azad. The last had left Mr. Bhandge’s employment around eight months before the kidnapping.
Judge DP Satavalekar awarded the death penalty to Imtiyaz for hatching the plot, subject to confirmation from the Bombay High Court, and fined him ₹25,000. While doing so, the court observed that he had demanded ransom after killing the minor. The court sentenced Azad to life imprisonment for the extent of his natural life. Shakir was proved to be a minor and was sent to a juvenile remand home, while Israr was acquitted due to lack of evidence. — With PTI inputs
