All 28 accused get life in Kasganj case

lucknow: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has sentenced 28 individuals convicted in the 2018 Chandan Gupta murder case to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each. The verdict comes a day after the court had found them guilty on Thursday, while two accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Chandan was killed during a communal clash that erupted on January 26, 2018, during a Tiranga Yatra in Kasganj.

Special judge Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi delivered the verdict in the case State vs. Salim and Others. The court also issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against convict Barkatullah, who failed to appear during the sentencing.

Those awarded life imprisonment are Salim, Wasim, Nasim, Jahid ‘Jagga’, Asiq Qureshi ‘Hitler’, Aslam Qureshi, Akram, Taufeeq, Khillan, Shabab, Rahat, Salam, Mohsin, Asif Jimwala, Saquib, Bablu, Nishu, Wasif, Imran, Shamshad, Jafar, Sakir, Khalid Parvez, Faizan, Imran Qayyum, Sakir Siddiqui, Munazir Rafi and Amir Rafi.

Of the 28 accused, Munazir Rafi is already in jail in connection with the Kasganj lawyer Mohini Tomar’s murder case. All the other accused were out on bail. Of them, 26 surrendered on Thursday and the remaining accused, Salim, surrendered on Friday. The court found the convicts guilty under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including: Section 147 (rioting), Section 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), Section 149 (unlawful assembly), Section 341 (wrongful restraint), Section 336 (endangering life or personal safety), Section 307 (attempt to murder, Section 506 (criminal intimidation).