Ramgarh, May 15 (IANS) A court in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh on Friday sentenced gangster Aman Srivastava and his associate Lakhan Sao to life imprisonment in the sensational murder of Kameshwar Pandey in 2015.

The court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge-I also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on both convicts.

On May 7, the court had held both the accused guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy.

After hearing arguments on sentencing, the court on Friday awarded life imprisonment under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, along with a fine of Rs 10,000 each.

Under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, the court again sentenced both to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each. Additionally, under Section 27 of the Arms Act, the convicts were awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each. The court said failure to pay the fine would result in an additional one year of rigorous imprisonment.

Security was tightened in and around the court premises during the pronouncement of the verdict.

The case relates to the murder of 70-year-old Pandey, a resident of Patratu, who was shot dead on October 26, 2015, while he had gone to a local vegetable market. Shooters of the Srivastava gang had opened indiscriminate fire on him, killing him on the spot.

An FIR in the case was lodged by Pawan Kishore Pandey. During the trial, the court noted that Aman Srivastava had conspired to commit the murder to establish dominance and spread terror in the area. Investigations also revealed that the victim had no links to any criminal activity.

Police had named Ganesh Singh alias Jayprakash Singh, Sao, and Srivastava as accused in the case. However, due to a lack of sufficient evidence and witnesses, the prosecution failed to prove charges against Ganesh Singh, who was acquitted.

The prosecution case was represented by APP Shraddha Jaya Topno, while the defence was argued by Jharkhand High Court advocate B.N. Tripathi and Ramgarh-based advocate Mahendra Mahato.

–IANS

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