The Bombay High Court in Goa on Monday upheld the 2014 order of the Goa Children’s Court, awarding life imprisonment to Rohan Dhungat, Jovito Ryan Pinto, Nafiyaz Sheikh and Shankar Tiwari convicted of murdering DJ Mandar Surlakar (17) in 2006.
All the four were law college students. They were were arrested in 2006 on the charge of abducting and murdering Mandar for ransom.
A Division Bench of Justices Prithviraj Chavan and M.S. Sonak, while confirming the sentence, declined the plea of Deepak Surlakar, father of the victim to order the four to undergo life imprisonment for the remainder of their natural lives without any remission.
The court also upheld the Children’s Court order extending the benefit of Section 428 of Cr.PC for remission by the executive authority, but said this can be availed by the four only if the appropriate authority sanctions remission or commutation.
The murder case dates back to August 14, 2006. Mandar Surlakar, a teenager DJ, of Vasco-Goa was abducted by five youths and taken to the residence of one of the accused. He was assaulted and tied up with ropes, forced to record a message for his father to pay ransom, without reporting the matter to the police.
₹50 lakh ransom
The same day a demand was made to the victim’s father for a ransom of ₹50 lakh. The victim’s father complained to the Vasco Police.
The next day the body of the victim was discovered at Keri, near Ponda in South Goa. The body bore strangulation marks and assault injuries with baseball bats. The post-mortem confirmed murder.
One pardoned
The five youths were arrested and the case went before the Goa Children’s Court as the victim was a minor. During the course of the investigations, one of the accused Al Saleha Beig turned approver and disclosed details of the conspiracy and its execution. He was pardoned by the Children’s Court. The four other convicts have been serving their sentences in the Central Jail at Colvale in North Goa.