A sessions court sentenced five people to rigorous life imprisonment on Wednesday after holding them guilty of murdering BJP leader Sukhbir Khatana in September 2022. The court also acquitted 16 other accused named in the chargesheet by police in the murder case including gangster Vikram Singh alias Papla Gujjar due to lack of evidence against them, said officials aware of the matter adding that Singh will continue to remain lodged in Bhondsi jail in connection with dozens of other criminal cases against him.
The court of additional sessions judge Sunil Kumar Dewan imposed an overall fine of ₹3 lakh on each of the convicts Chaman alias Pawan, Yogesh, Deepak alias Deepu, Ankul and Rahul after sentencing them for life imprisonment under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), two years’ imprisonment under Section 201 (disappearance of evidence on an offence) of Indian Penal Code and five years’ imprisonment under the Arms Act.
Khatana, 48, originally from Rithoj village, was a former vice-chairman of the Sohna marketing committee. He was inside a garment showroom in Sadar bazaar area when armed assailants shot him dead after barging inside the shop in broad daylight on September 1, 2022.
Public prosecutor Dhananjay Kumar said that Chaman alias Pawan, who was brother of Khatana’s second wife, was the main conspirator in the case.
“Khatana had a love marriage with Chaman’s sister, Pushpa, more than 17 years back but her family had not approved it. They had accepted their relationship six years before his murder. However, Chaman still nurtured a grudge against Khatana over the marriage as he used to get humiliated amid his friends for this marriage. This was the prime motive behind the murder which he executed after taking help from henchmen working for the gangster,” said Kumar.
Kumar said there were 57 prosecution witnesses of which about two turned hostile but the rest deposed supporting the allegations. “CCTV footage was clinching evidence in the case which had clearly established that the five convicts were present at the spot and had opened fire on Khatana,” he said.
Kumar said ballistic reports also established that the bullets retrieved from the body and the empty cartridges recovered from the spot were fired from the murder weapons recovered on the indications of the convicts.
“Except Chaman, all other convicts were associated with the gangster Papla Gujjar. There were allegations by Khatana’s family that he was murdered due to political rivalry in which Chaman was used but no concrete evidence came in the course of trial to establish it,” he added.