28-year-old sentenced to death for acid attack on couple in 2015

The Palghar sessions court on Thursday sentenced a 28-year-old man to death for murdering a 35-year-old man and his wife four years ago, by pouring acid on them while they were asleep. The victim, Rajkumar Balram Ravidas, and the convict, Guddu Krish Yadav, were colleagues at a chemical firm at Boisar MIDC.

According to public prosecutor Deepak Tare, in November 2015, Yadav had stolen Ravidas’s phone, following which, the latter complained to their employer. The employer reprimanded Yadav and asked him to return Ravidas’s phone. Yadav was infuriated and decided to take revenge.

On November 6, 2015, around 2.30am, Yadav went to the mezzanine floor of the company’s quarters in Boisar, where Ravidas and his wife Geeta, 30, were asleep. He had taken along with him a 10-litre bucket containing concentrated sulphuric acid to pour it on the couple. According to the prosecution, while pouring the acid on the couple, Yadav told Ravidas, “Now keep the mobile to yourself.” Yadav then fled the spot and took a train to Patna, Bihar. The other colleagues who were asleep in the quarters, heard Ravidas’s screams and rushed the couple to a nearby hospital. While Ravidas died the same day, Geeta succumbed to the burn injuries the next day.

A case of murder was registered against Yadav and he was arrested from Patna a few days later. Tare has been lodged in the Thane Central Jail since then.

Around 12 witnesses and medical evidences were examined during the trial, including the statements of two of Ravidas’s colleagues who had taken the couple to the hospital. Justice RN Majgaonkar,on finding Yadav guilty, sentenced him to death.

First Published: May 10, 2019 02:41 IST