12 sentenced to life imprisonment in 18-year-old case violence and murder case in UP's Barabanki

Barabanki (UP): A special court here has awarded life sentence to 12 people in an 18-year-old case pertaining to violence and murder over a dispute, officials said on Tuesday.

Special Additional Sessions Judge (SC/ST Act) Veena Narayan pronounced the verdict on Monday, holding the 12 accused guilty of murder, attempt to murder, arson, rioting and offences under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.18 lakh on each of them, prosecution officer Kripa Shankar said.

Five other persons, who were involved in the dispute from the rival faction, were sentenced to three years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 10,000 each for voluntarily causing grievous hurt and assault.

The case dates back to March 4, 2007. Krishna Magan, a resident of Saraitha village under Patranga police station, had lodged a police complaint pertaining to an altercation with Ajay Singh. He alleged that Ajay Singh and his associates were angry over his election as village head, which was exacerbated by cancellation of the village ration shop licence earlier held by one of Ajay Singh's allies.

According to the prosecution, Krishna Magan had gone with his friend Mansaram to have tea at Shivnagar crossing, where they had a verbal altercation with Ajay Singh and Sahajram Singh.

A short while later, Ajay Singh, Ram Prasad and some others attacked Magan's family members, leaving several seriously injured. One of the injured, Chetram, later died at Rudauli Hospital.

Those sentenced to life include Ajay Singh, Jagannath Singh, Vinod Singh, Krishna Magan Singh, Sahaj Ram Singh, Karuna Shankar Singh, Sanjay Mishra, Sahab Bakhsh Singh, Munna Singh, Mukut Singh, Pramod Kumar Singh, and Rakesh Kumar Tiwari.

Three accused -- Umeshwar Pratap Singh, Bhairav Bakhsh Singh and Shankar Bakhsh Singh -- were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Five individuals from the opposite side -- Ram Singh, Mansaram, Amresh Kumar, Nanku, and Sarabjit -- were convicted for assault and causing grievous injuries.

During the prolonged trial, five other accused from the second faction died.