Kolkata: Villagers in Kaliyaganj woke on October 31, 2012, to the grim sight of 23-year-old Samir Kundu’s mutilated body lying in a paddy field. Thirteen years later, the Calcutta High Court confirmed life imprisonment for three men found guilty of the killing, dismissing their appeal against conviction.
A Division Bench of Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Ajay Kumar Gupta has upheld the sentences handed down by the trial court to Papan Sarkar, Bablu Sarkar and Kalyan Barui. The judges directed that time already spent in custody be set off against their remaining sentence. According to the prosecution, Samir left home on the evening of October 30, 2012 and was last seen with the three accused by neighbours in the locality. His body, discovered the next morning between two villages, bore extensive injuries: multiple sharp cut wounds, a fractured skull with brain laceration, loss of the left eye and burns on the face and shoulder. The autopsy surgeon concluded that death was caused by shock and haemorrhage due to homicidal injuries.
The following day, local residents caught hold of two suspects and reported that one of them made statements before the crowd, implicating himself and others. The High Court accepted these extra-judicial statements as voluntary.
Police said disclosures by the accused led to the recovery of a stone and pieces of glass smeared with human blood, as well as the victim’s motorcycle and clothing. Forensic examination confirmed the presence of human blood on the seized items. Sixteen prosecution witnesses were examined at trial, including neighbours who placed the victim with the accused on the evening of October 30.
The defence challenged the reliability of the witnesses, citing contradictions, delay in examination and lack of proven motive. The Bench held that the circumstantial evidence formed a complete chain pointing only to the guilt of the accused, and observed that absence of proved motive did not weaken the case.
The convictions under charges of murder and causing disappearance of evidence were upheld, with concurrent sentences maintained. The records have been sent back to the trial court for compliance.