Minakshi Thapa killing: Two convicted for actor’s murder

The sessions court on Wednesday convicted two junior artists – Amit Kumar Jaiswal and Preeti Surin alias Alvina for kidnapping and killing aspiring actress Minakhsi Thapa.

Thapa was kidnapped and killed on March 14, 2012 at a servant quarters in Darbhanga Colony, Allahabad. Jaiswal and Surin had taken Thapa to Allahabad on pretext of an assignment and later beheaded her and asked a ransom from her mother.

The sessions court judge SG Shete held Jaiswal and Surin guilty of all offences – murder, kidnapping, extortion and criminal conspiracy hatched by both.

The court has now adjourned the case for arguments on quantum of sentence for Thursday.

The special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam had examined 35 witnesses against the two, which also included Surin’s father and cousin, who had last seen Thapa with the two accused.

The prosecution has claimed that, Thapa, an aspiring actor, came to Mumbai from Dehradun and met Jaiswal and Surin on the sets of a Madhur Bhandarkar film ‘Heroine.’ The duo also aspired to make a career in Bollywood. Thapa told them she came from an affluent family, so they conspired to kidnap her for a ransom. The prosecution claimed that at Allahabad the trio went to see Surin’s father, a watchman at a women’s hostel and was staying in a quarter. It was at Surin’s father’s quarter they allegedly severed Thapa’s head.

According to Surin’s brother Johan’s testimony he said that when he reached home, Surin, on some or other pretext kept him out of the house and did not let him in until they were gone. He said that when he came home he realised that a knife from the house was missing, which the police suspected to be a murder weapon. According to the prosecution, the two disposed of Thapa’s body in a septic tank near Surin’s father’s quarters.

The duo was held on April 14, 2012 near Bandra railway station, when they came to withdraw money using Thapa’s debit card.