In an important ruling, the district court here on Wednesday sentenced 11 accused to life imprisonment in connection with the gruesome murder of a timber merchant Jasbir Singh Chabra at his Khatiwala Tank residence last year.
The judgement came almost after one-and-half years of trial in the case. Delivering his judgement, district and session judge sentenced all the 11 accused including the main accused Suraj Pardi to life imprisonment. Among the accused, the court has awarded double life imprisonment to five accused, besides slapping a fine of `28,000 each.
The remaining six accused that include three women have been awarded with life imprisonment and slapped a fine of `18,000 each.
The murder has rocked the city last year when about a dozen members of infamous Pardi gang which included three women had barged into the residence of timber merchant Jasbir Singh Chabra in Khatiwala Tank locality on May 6, 2012 with a motive of dacoity. The gang members brutally killed Jasbir Singh Chabra when he resisted the dacoity attempt.
After the incident, the city police had arrested 14 members of the gang including its kingpin Suraj Pardi. After numerous hearing
and trials in the case, the charges against the accused had been framed on February 22 this year, said Jyoti
Tomar, counsel of the victim’s family.
Women accused and their family members who were present in the court however, protested against the district court’s ruling.
One of the women accused who was awarded life imprisonment in the case, soon after hearing the judgement, got fainted in the court premises. later she was provided medical treatment by her family members.
Meanwhile, family members of the victim as well people of the Sikh community have hailed the court ruling and thanked the administration and police officials for their prompt and desired actions in the case.