Court sends real estate agent to 7 years in jail for attempt to murder

PUNE: A sessions court here has convicted and sentenced a 37-year-old grocer-cum-real estate agent to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for attempt to murder.


The accused, Farukh Shaikh, had threatened his friend-turned-foe with a country-made pistol and caused bullet injuries to the latter’s friend as well as a five-year-old boy during a quarrel in Bibvewadi in May 2016.




In a judgment pronounced on Monday, additional sessions judge V K Kadam also found Shaikh guilty of offences under Section 201 (attempt to destroy evidence) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 37 (1) of the Bombay Police Act and Section 3 of the Indian Arms Act, both dealing with illegal possession of a deadly prohibited weapon like a pistol and breach of prohibitory order.

The court sentenced Shaikh to one year of rigorous imprisonment each for attempt to destroy evidence and illegal possession of firearm, and imposed a total fine of Rs12,500 on him. Attempt to murder is punishable with life imprisonment or a minimum sentence of seven years in jail. The court opted to sentence Shaikh to seven years in jail, considering that his wife, daughter and parents were dependent on him.

Additional public prosecutor Shubhangi Deshmukh examined 11 witnesses in support of the prosecution’s case during the trial, while the accused had assumed a defence that he was falsely implicated due to a political rivalry with the complainant.

The court, however, relied on the evidence on record, including depositions with the injured witnesses, medical experts, police documents and observed that the prosecution had proved its case beyond doubt.