JAIPUR: In a landmark judgement, the special
CBI court here on Thursday gave life imprisonment to 14 people accused of killing one of their relatives in a property dispute in 2013. The property dispute between the two families had taken an ugly turn on December 10, 2013 when a boundary wall of Rajbihari Gupta’s plot was reportedly destroyed by the other faction. He along with his family members Kamal Katta, Amitabh Gupta, Shyam Sundar Katta, accompanied by the police went to the spot to confront the other side.
By the time Gupta and other had arrived at the scene, they were surrounded by at least 25 people including his relatives, Gopal Lal and
Kanha Ram, all of them armed with knives, sticks and other weapons.
Heated argument broke out between members of the two warring families, resulting in a violent face off. Gopal Lal, Kanha Ram and their aides attacked the other faction with knives and stones due to which Katta, policemen and other family members of Gupta sustained severe injuries and were rushed to the hospital. Katta succumbed to his injuries. The attackers even looted the watches, gold chain and cash from victims. They also smashed the mirrors of their cars.
An FIR was lodged against the accused, including five women under sections, murder (302) punishment for rioting (147) and other relevant sections of the IPC. The 14 members of the family who were given life sentence include Ramji Lal, Laxman Saini, Kalyan Saini, Bhauri Lal, Gopal Lal, Ganesh, Budhi Prakash, Radha Devi, Gomati, Seema, Parvati, Kanta, Om Prakash and Prahalad. During the course of arguments over the quantum of punishment, the defence counsel argued that all accused come from poor families and there were several kids in the family who are to be cared for, hence, the punishment should be given in the context of the family’s pressing circumstances.
Representative image