A Mohali court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for murdering a 30-year-old man and crushing his body under a car to make it appear like a road accident. A third accused was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The convicts, Dalip Yadav and Jony Kumar, were held guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
The body of the victim, Lalit Kumar, an employee of Big Basket, had been found, with his skull crushed, near Amb Sahib gurdwara, Mohali, on February 7, 2022.
According to the prosecution, police initially treated the case as a road accident and registered an FIR under Sections 279 (rash or negligent driving) and 304-A (rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) of the IPC against an unidentified vehicle and driver.
The investigation changed course after the victim’s father, Mukesh Kumar, told police that he suspected Yadav of having a role in his son’s murder. He told police that Yadav had doubts that his wife was in an illicit relationship with Lalit and had threatened to kill him.
Police later obtained closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from a paying guest accommodation (PG) in Mataur where Yadav’s wife was seen with Lalit days before the murder.
On February 6, Yadav and Jony followed Lalit to the PG accommodation and took him to their car, a Swift Dzire.
As per the prosecution, Yadav’s brother Ravi Kant was waiting in the car. The trio allegedly made Lalit consume liquor and later strangled him inside the car.
After the murder, the three men allegedly dumped the body behind the gurdwara and repeatedly drove their car over it to crush the victim’s head. They also allegedly removed the victim’s Aadhaar and PAN cards to delay identification.
The court held that the prosecution had successfully established motive, last-seen evidence and the sequence of events through CCTV footage, witness testimonies and recoveries, including Swift Dzire car used in the crime. It further accepted the prosecution’s claim that Lalit was last seen alive with the two convicts shortly before his death.
“The manner in which the accused were taking the victim appeared unnatural and suspicious,” the court observed.
While the post-mortem initially suggested a road accident, the court noted that doctors later said death by strangulation could not be ruled out.
The judgment also referred to a missing report filed by Yadav after his wife left home on February 3, 2022. The court said the evidence pointed to matrimonial discord and showed Yadav believed his wife was with Lalit.
The third accused, Ravi Kant, was given the benefit of doubt as he was not visible in CCTV footage and no independent evidence proved his direct role in the murder conspiracy.
Refusing leniency, the court termed the killing an “abhorrent crime” and cited a Supreme Court ruling that courts must protect victims to prevent private vengeance.
The court of additional sessions judge Neetika Verma also imposed a penalty of ₹1,10,000 each on the two convicts. Out of the total amount recovered from them, ₹2 lakh is to be paid to the victim’s legal heirs as compensation.
