5 get life term for murder of ex-BJP leader

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Diwan sentenced five convicts to life imprisonment in the murder case of former BJP leader and and Sohna market committee former vice-president Sukhbir Khatana. The Special Task Force (STF) had arrested a total of 20 accused in the case.

According to the police, on September 1 in 2022, Sukhbir, a resident of Rithoj village, was gunned down by armed assailants while he was buying clothes in a showroom on Gurdwara Road near Sadar Bazaar in broad daylight. On the complaint of Anurag, the son of the deceased, an FIR was registered against his relative Chaman and his accomplices at the Civil Lines police station.

The case was later transferred to the STF. A total of 20 persons were arrested, including Sukhbir's brother-in-law Chaman, Rohtas Khatana's brother Joginder and gangster Vikram Singh.

The former BJP leader had held the post of vice-chairman in the Sohna Nagar Parishad. His wife Pushpa is a councillor from Ward 2 in the Zila Parishad now. Pushpa is the sister of Chaman, who held a grudge against Sukhbir due to their marriage.

After hearing the case for about three years. the court on Monday convicted five of the 20 accused -- Chaman, Yogesh, Deepak, Arun and Rahul -- to life imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of the convicts.

Chaman, who had many cases registered against him, started working for Papla's gang in 2015.