A local court in Muzaffarnagar on Tuesday awarded death sentence to seven persons for firing indiscriminately at a group and murdering one person following a clash over a volleyball game eight years ago.
District and Sessions judge Rajesh Bharadwaj found the accused guilty under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, among others. They accused were also convicted under Section 25 of the Arms Act.
Those convicted and awarded death penalty were identified as Sadiq, Sarfaraz, Shahid, Arshad, Rashid, Mumtaz and Farrukh.
The incident took place in February 2010.
According to details shared by Uttar Pradesh police, brothers Naseem and Khalil had got into a fight with some locals, the accused, during a game of volleyball in Harsoli village of the district.
Following this, the accused persons allegedly barged into the house of the brothers “in a planned manner armed with guns and country-made weapons” and fired indiscriminately, said the note issued by the U.P. police.
Shot five times
While Naseem, who was shot five times, died, his brothers Khalil and Raiyan, and nephew Shakeel received bullet injuries; the three were shot eight times. The incident had left locals terrorised, the court noted.
A total of nine witnesses, including the three injured survivors, were produced in the case.
