9 guilty of advocate’s murder, get life term

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 22

Nine accused in the murder case of local advocate Amarpreet Singh, aka Lucky, were convicted today and awarded life sentence by the court of the District and Sessions Judge here.

The accused — Dharminder Singh, Rajat Sharma, Jaswinder Singh Khattu, Sunil Bhanot, Sunvir Singh, his uncle Onkar Singh, Kevin Sushant, Deepak Kaushal and Vishal Sharawat — were awarded life sentence by District and Sessions Judge Archana Puri here today.

Lucky (33) was shot dead at 8.10 pm on February 27, 2013, in full public view by the miscreants in front of his residence at Phase 3A over a petty issue of parking in the locality. Lucky, whose heart and lungs were ruptured after receiving two bullets, died on the spot while his cousin Gaganjot Singh and the latter’s friend, Simarjit Singh, sustained bullet injuries in indiscriminate firing by the miscreants. Lucky was a nephew of Mohali’s current Deputy Mayor Manjit Singh Sethi and Gaganjot Singh is his (Sethi’s) son.

Today, the court pronounced life sentence on all nine accused under Sections 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC along with fine of Rs 50,000 each. In case of non-payment of the fine, the term will be extended by four months. All accused have also been convicted under Sections 506 and 148 for which the court has awarded them a jail term for five years and two years, respectively.

Dharminder Singh, who had shot the victim, has been convicted under Section 302 while the rest eight accused have been convicted under Section 302 with Section 149 of the IPC. The court also convicted Dharminder under Sections 468 and 471 of the IPC for which a term of four years along with a fine of Rs 12,500 has been awarded.

The court also convicted Dharminder, Vishal, Sunvir and Onkar under Section 307 with Section 149 for which they have been awarded a seven-year term with a fine of Rs 20,000 each. In case of default, the term will be extended by two months.

Sunil Bhanot, Rajat Sharma and Kevin Sushant have been convicted under Section 307 of the IPC for which they also got a seven-year term with a fine of Rs 20,000 each.

Five of the accused — Jaswinder Singh, Sunil Bhanot, Rajat Sharma, Dharminder Singh and Kevin Sushant — have been convicted under Section 25 of the Arms Act for which they got a three-year jail term.

Mohali District Attorney-cum-Public Prosecutor Gurdeep Singh said a total of 36 witnesses (30 prosecution witnesses and six witnesses of the defence) were examined during the trial, which ran for around 57 months.

During the trial, only three accused — Sunvir Singh, Jaswinder Singh Khattu and Onkar Singh — were granted bail. The court convicted all accused in the morning and sentenced them at 3.15 pm.

All convicts were sent to Nabha Jail.

2 accused break down, others seen smiling

While most of the accused were seen smiling and whispering when the Judge was about to pronounce the quantum of sentence after holding all of them guilty of murder, two of them later broke down when they met their family members after coming out of the court. “What was to happen has happened,” said an accused while coming out of the court. Later, all of them appeared calm.

Victim was an aspiring criminal lawyer

Lucky was young and an aspiring civil and criminal lawyer, having an experience of eight years. Having social and friendly nature, Lucky was popular among his colleagues and friends. The victim was married and had a four-year-old son at the time of the incident. 

Flashback

On February 27, 2013, the victim, Lucky, along with his cousin Gaganjot Singh and the latter’s friend, Simarjit Singh, were standing outside their residence at Phase 3A when Deepak Kaushal, who had come to visit Dharminder and Vishal (residing as paying guests on the top floor just two houses away from Lucky’s house), parked his car in front of the victim’s residence. When Lucky objected, Deepak told him that he would return soon. Deepak returned along with Dharminder and the other accused while firing shots. Lucky, who received two bullets, died while Gaganjot Singh and Simarjit Singh received bullet injuries and were rushed to Fortis Hospital. Lucky’s heart and lungs were ruptured by bullets, which led to his death, according to the postmortem report of the deceased.

Family satisfied

Though members of the victim’s family expressed satisfaction over the court verdict, they said he would not return with this. Lucky’s father Amarjit Singh and uncle Manjit Singh Sethi, who were present in the court complex on Wednesday, broke down when they heard the verdict. “We are satisfied with the verdict. Justice has prevailed,” said Amarjit Singh and Manjit Singh. Lucky’s mother Joginder Kaur and his wife Surinder Kaur were not in a position to talk. “We are satisfied but also sad as we have suffered a huge loss, which is irreparable,” said Surinder Kaur while sobbing. Lucky’s son, Gursifatjit Singh, is still too small to understand the situation, said the family members.