District and Sessions Judge Virender Singh on Wednesday pronounced death sentence on all three convicts–Chander Sharma, Tajender and Vikrant–for the murder of four-year-old boy Yug.
The family of Yug, including his father, mother and grandmother, were in tears, as the quantum of sentence was pronounced.
All three were held guilty on August 6 under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence/false information), 347 (wrongful confinement to extort property) and 364 (kidnapping for ransom) of the IPC.
Yug was kidnapped by his neighbour Chander, who offered him a chocolate and lured him to Tajender’s godown situated above Yug’s house. Later, he was transported to Chander’s rented house at Ram Chandra Chowk in Tajender’s SUV.
Yug’s clothes were burnt to destroy evidence. The kid was tortured, kept naked, forced to drink liquor and dumped alive in a water tank tied with a stone on June 21, 2014, seven days after the kidnapping, even before the demand for ransom of Rs 3.6 crore was made.
The child’s skeleton was recovered from a water tank of Shimla Municipal Corporation in Keleston area. Investigations reveal that Tajender and Vikrant were against killing the child, but Chander insisted on the killing as he feared that the child might spill the beans.
Shocked by the incident, locals came out on the roads, markets were closed and protests were held outside the Vidhan Sabha from where the protesters marched to the high court. Demonstrations, hunger strikes and candlelight marches were also witnessed.
