Surajpur, Oct 8 (PTI) A Fast Track Court (FTC) in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district on Thursday awarded death penalty to three men and life imprisonment to another for killing the wife of a policeman and his 11-year-old daughter in 2024, a government counsel said.
District and Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) Anand Prakash Wariyal convicted all four accused in the case and awarded the death penalty to three of them — Kuldeep Sahu (32), Chandrakant Chaudhary (28) and Phool Singh alias Rinku (28) — government counsel Suresh Sharma said.
Another accused, Aryan Vishwakarma alias Goldy (20), was sentenced to life imprisonment, he said.
On October 13, 2024, Sahu, a history-sheeter, killed the 35-year-old wife of a police head constable, and their minor daughter at their home in Surajpur city with the help of Chaudhary, Vishwakarma and Singh — all his associates — police said.
Sharma argued before the court that the woman, who he said was also subjected to sexual assault, and her minor daughter were brutally attacked and killed.
There were 33 injury marks on the woman’s body and 28 on the child’s body, he told the court.
“The gravity of the offence was very serious and it was committed without any provocation,” Sharma said, adding he cited Supreme Court judgments to argue that punishment to the accused should serve as a deterrent and prevent similar crimes.
He pleaded that the punishment should be proportionate to the gravity of the offence, the counsel said.
Blood was found on the clothes of the accused and the evidence remained unchallenged during the trial. Fingerprint evidence linked to Sahu remained unchallenged. The sexual assault of the policeman’s wife further aggravated the gravity of the offence, he said.
Elder brother of the policeman welcomed the court’s decision.
“It is a good decision. We were expecting such a verdict. This decision will help us cope with the grief. Our family has suffered immensely. We are satisfied with the verdict,” he said.
He said his brother had been completely devastated by the incident and that the police department had supported and motivated him during the difficult period.
Reacting to a video in which Sahu was seen smiling and posing for photographs outside a court last month, he said the key accused showed no remorse despite committing such a heinous crime.
“It raises questions about his mindset and upbringing and shows what kind of a person he is,” he said.
Sahu was seen smiling while walking out of a Surajpur district court after being convicted in a separate case related to an attempt to run over policemen with his car. He had also then asked mediapersons to use his smiling photograph.
According to police, on the night of October 13, 2024, Sahu first threw hot oil at constable Ghanshyam Soni, who was deployed along the route of a Durga idol immersion procession. Soni had attempted to apprehend Sahu, who was in Surajpur city despite having been externed from the district under an order issued by the district magistrate.
Chaudhary, then-president of the Surajpur district unit of the NSUI, the Congress’s student wing, along with Vishwakarma and Singh, was also present at the spot, they said.
Following the incident, the head constable, whose wife and daughter were killed later, and other personnel of Surajpur police station launched an operation to apprehend Sahu.
When the policemen located him and attempted to arrest him, the accused allegedly tried to run them over with a car, police said.
Sahu subsequently fled the spot and barged into the head constable’s house, where he fatally attacked his wife and daughter, they said.
With the help of his associates, Sahu sexually assaulted the woman before killing the mother-daughter duo. Their bodies were later dumped by the accused at Pidha village, around four kilometres from their home, police said.
Sahu and three others were subsequently arrested in connection with the case and tried in the Fast Track Court. PTI COR TKP RSY
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