Relu Ram Punia murder case: SC gives 2 more weeks to his convicted son-in-law for responding to petition against his interim bail

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave two more weeks to Sanjeev Kumar -- convicted of killing his father-in-law and former Haryana MLA Relu Ram Punia and seven of his family in 2001 -- to respond to a petition challenging his release on interim bail.

Punia (50), his wife Krishna Devi (41), daughter Priyanka (14), son Sunil Kumar (23), daughter-in-law Shakuntala Devi (20), grandson Lokesh (4) and granddaughters Shivani (2) and 45-day-old Preeti were murdered by his daughter Sonia and her husband Sanjeev Kumar on the night of August 23, 2001 at their farmhouse at Litani village in Hisar district while they were asleep.

Serving life imprisonment in the case, Sonia and Sanjeev sought their premature release under the policy dated April 12, 2002 on the grounds that the total period of actual sentence undergone by them was almost 24 years.

The Punjab and Haryana High court had on December 11, 2025 ordered their release on interim bail pending a decision on their plea for premature release by the competent authority.

A Supreme Court Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice VM Pancholi – which had on February 27 issued notice to the convicted couple on a petition filed by Jitender and others challenging the high court's December order – on Tuesday granted two more weeks to Sanjeev after his counsel Akshat Srivastava sought time for filing their replies.

Sonia has already filed her reply to the petition.

Giving Srivastava two weeks to file the replies, the Bench gave one week to the petitioners to file his rejoinder and posted the matter for May 11. “Interim order, granted earlier, shall continue till the next date of hearing,” it ordered.

On February 27, the top court had said, “Re-consideration of the prayers of the respondents-convicts for premature release, as directed by the impugned (HC) order, by the appropriate authority is not stayed; however, neither will the final decision be published nor implemented till such time the special leave petitions are heard next.”

Sonia and her husband were sentenced to death but the Supreme Court commuted it to life imprisonment on January 21, 2014.