A Nashik court today convicted six men for killing three Dalit youths in Ahmednagar district in 2013, in what later came to be known as the Sonai honour killing case and had triggered outrage among the community. The three youths were brutally killed in Sonai village and their mutilated body parts were found in a septic tank. Session Court Judge R R Vaishnav convicted six of the seven people accused in the case. Ashok Rohidas Phalke was acquitted by a court after the prosecution failed to establish the charges against him. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on January 18, special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam told PTI. The six were convicted on various charges including murder and criminal conspiracy for killing Sachin Gharu (24), Sandeep Thanvar (25) and Rahul Kandare (20) on Jan. 1, 2013. According to police, the killings were prompted by an inter-caste love affair between Sachin and a girl from the Maratha community. Sachin and his colleagues, who worked as sweepers, were summoned by the girl's family to their home on January 1 to clean their septic tank. Police found his decapitated body, with his limbs severed from the trunk, the next evening.
The mutilated bodies of Sandeep and Rahul were found on January 3. The convicts include the father, the elder brother and other relatives of the girl. The victims belonged to the backward Mehtar community. Altogether, 54 witnesses were examined in the case, Nikam said.
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