Ludhiana: A local court has sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for kidnapping and murdering a minor boy after demanding ransom. The court of additional sessions judge Amandeep Kaur awarded life terms to Vikas Kumar and Mukesh Kumar. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Vikas Kumar and Rs 22,000 on Mukesh Kumar.The case dates back to June 16, 2022, when Focal Point police booked Mukesh Kumar of Gonda (UP), now residing at Dhandari Khurd, and Vikas Kumar of Aurangabad (Bihar), now residing at Purani Dharamshala near Dhandari Flyover. They were booked under Sections 364-A (kidnapping for ransom), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) read with Section 34 of the IPC for the murder of Amit Kumar.Complainant Amrinder Kumar told the police that around 8am on June 16, 2022, his wife informed him that their son Amit had gone to play at Mukesh Kumar’s quarter but had not returned. When they checked Mukesh’s quarter, neither the accused nor the child was present. Around 9pm, Mukesh called and informed Amrinder that Amit was in his custody and demanded Rs 1,50,000 as ransom, threatening consequences if the money was not paid.An FIR was initially registered against Mukesh under Section 364-A. During investigation, the complainant gave a supplementary statement that Vikas used to visit Mukesh’s quarter and that Mukesh had taken Amit to Vikas on a motorcycle. He stated he was certain both accused had murdered his son.During the probe, Mithun alias Mithu, a co-worker of Vikas, told the police that Vikas had confessed to kidnapping the boy with Mukesh for ransom but, out of fear, they strangled him and threw the body into a river. Police arrested both accused. On June 18, 2022, police recovered Amit’s slippers on Vikas’s disclosure. The next day, Amit’s body was recovered from near Kaind Bridge Canal and was identified by the complainant.During the trial, prosecution witness Suba Lal deposed that on June 15, 2022, he saw Vikas and Mukesh near Neelo Canal with a child aged 10 to 12, whose hands were tied, and witnessed them strangling him. Another witness, Shiv Pujan, testified that he had seen the accused with a child on a motorcycle earlier that day.The defence claimed false implication, but the court held the witnesses to be natural and reliable.
