Life imprisonment till death for murdering Ludhiana woman

A Ludhiana court has sentenced Mohan Singh, a resident of Mohalla Heaven City, Near Badal Colony, Mundian Kalan, here, to life imprisonment till death for the murder of a 32-year-old woman, Megha Malhotra, who was working as a clerk with a Ludhiana lawyer.

The judgment was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Jagdeep Sood, who ruled that the life sentence awarded “shall neither be remitted nor commuted”. It is further directed that as and when the case of the convict is considered for the grant of parole, the competent authority will be informed that the convict undergoing life imprisonment, while taking advantage of parole had committed another murder in the past.

According to the prosecution, on May 10, 2021, Megha Malhotra was found lying injured in the porch of her house. Her husband Karan Malhotra rushed home after receiving a call. She was shifted to the Civil Hospital, where she was declared dead. A medical examination revealed death by strangulation. A case under Section 302 of the IPC was registered against unidentified persons at the Jamalpur police station.

During the investigation, CCTV footage from the area showed a clean-shaven man in a blue pant and white shirt exiting the Malhotra residence and heading towards Jain Enclave, Bhamian Kalan. The police circulated the suspect’s photograph.

On May 13, 2021, Surinder Verma, a paint contractor, approached the police, stating that Mohan Singh, who had been working with him since July 2020, resembled the suspect. He further said Mohan had admitted to him that he had killed a woman in Jain Colony due to “greed for money”.

He said Mohan was earlier convicted for a murder in a Model Town case and had been residing on rent in Bhamian Kalan. After the crime, he fled Ludhiana.

Karan later gave a supplementary statement, stating that the almirah in their house was forced open and his wife’s ATM card and Aadhaar card were missing. During interrogation, Mohan confessed that he had demanded Rs 10,000 from Megha Malhotra. When she refused and slapped him, he snatched the almirah key, but she grabbed it back and ran. He chased her. While running, she fell on the stairs. Afterwards, he strangled her with a mobile phone charging cable. At his instance, the police recovered Rs 5,000, the stolen ATM card and Aadhaar card.

The defence argued false implication and claimed that the extra-judicial confession was fabricated. However, the court held the prosecution evidence credible.

Rejecting the prosecution’s plea for a death penalty, the court ruled that though the convict had committed another murder while on parole, the case did not meet the stringent standards laid down by the Supreme Court for capital punishment.