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  Court convicts three for murdering woman

Court convicts three for murdering woman

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Jul 28, 2016, 1:34 am IST
Updated : Jul 28, 2016, 1:34 am IST

A sessions court on Wednesday convicted three people for killing the wife of Jatin Dedhia, the prime accused, in a staged robbery in 2009.

A sessions court on Wednesday convicted three people for killing the wife of Jatin Dedhia, the prime accused, in a staged robbery in 2009. The court will pronounce the quantum of the sentence on Monday. The trial court had, in the past, discharged Dedhia from the case, but the state government challenged this judgment, and the high court in 2012 set aside the order discharging him. So, he was tried again.

Sessions judge Sanjay Patil has convicted Dedhia for killing his wife, Beena, with the help of Nazim Khan and Hasruddin Malik alias Azhar Khan. The court, however, acquitted another accused, Rajnikanth, for want of evidence. The prosecution’s case against the Rajnikanth was that he was part of the criminal conspiracy.

The prosecution’s case is that Dedhia was allegedly having an affair with his brother-in-law’s wife, Rupal Chheda, and they both conspired to kill Beena, however the trial court had discharged him and the high court upheld this decision.

Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian, while speaking to The Asian Age said that she did not want to disclose what punishment would be sought for the accused. She examined 35 witnesses to prove the case against the accused. Since the case is of murder, the provisions of law provide the death penalty as the maximum sentence for the convicts.

Two men on a motorcycle stabbed Beena to death when she had gone on a morning walk with Dedhia at Kalachowki on October 27, 2009. Dedhia was the only eyewitness to the incident and he told the police that two chain-snatchers were trying to snatch Beena’s gold ornaments but she resisted and, hence, they stabbed her and ran away. This claim had created fear in the minds of locals, but the police questioned around 450 chain-snatchers and came to conclusion that the crime was not the doing of a chain-snatcher, but was a planned murder.

According to police, Dedhia was having an affair with Chheda for about a year before the incident and planned her Beena’s murder as she had refused to divorce him. The police said Dedhia had paid Rs 1 lakh for the killing and he reportedly sold his gold ring to raise the money.