Navi Mumbai: The Panvel district and additional sessions court judge SR Ugale on Thursday convicted and sentenced a murder accused man to life term imprisonment with a Rs 50,000 fine after eight years of trial.The accused allegedly killed his sister’s father-in-law, Ram Prasad Gupta, 60, and attempted to murder the victim’s wife, Lakshmi Devi, 53, in April 2018 over a monetary dispute. The victim repeatedly demanded repayment of Rs 70,000 that the accused borrowed from him as a personal loan.The convict, identified as Sandeep Gupta, now 56 years old, was arrested by NRI Coastal police for the murder of Ram Prasad Gupta and the attempt to murder Lakshmi Devi.As per the prosecution’s argument in the court by Advocate YS Bhopi, the accused Sandeep Gupta borrowed Rs 70,000 from the victim Ramprasad Gupta, who trusted Santosh, as he was his son Satish’s brother-in-law. Despite repeated demands to pay back, Sandeep was dilly-dallying, and to get rid of it he decided to eliminate him.On April 22, 2018, with the intention of theft and murder, the accused Sandeep, who resided in Goregaon, Mumbai, and is a cab driver, went to Rampasad’s residence in Ulwe under the pretext of a courtesy visit. As Ramprasad’s wife Lakshmi Devi went to the kitchen to make tea, Sandeep dragged Ramprasad to the bedroom and slit his throat with a knife and stabbed him in the abdomen. When Lakshmi Devi attempted to rescue her husband after hearing the commotion, Sandeep stabbed her on the neck and, dumping her in the bathroom, he decamped with 90 grams of gold ornaments and Rs 80,000 cash kept in the cupboard.The injured Lakshmi Devi managed to get down from the building and wrote on a piece of paper in the presence of a witness, ‘Satish ke sale ne mere pati ko mara’. She was rushed to the Panvel sub-district civic hospital for treatment, while the civic doctor declared her husband Ramprasad brought dead on arrival. Due to the alertness of two local witnesses, Lakshmi Devi got immediate treatment and she survived.The testimony of the victim’s wife Lakshmi Devi as the prime eyewitness and 16 other witnesses was considered by the court for final judgment of life term imprisonment to the accused Santosh Gupta along with a Rs 50,000 fine.The court also ordered that the fine amount of Rs 50,000 to be recovered from the convict Gupta should be given as compensation to the victim’s widow Lakshmi Devi. The court also ordered the stolen gold and cash recovered by the police from the accused Gupta to be handed over to the widow.
