Sanji Ram, 62
He retired as Ziladar Officer from the Jammu revenue department in 2017. Subsequently, he got a hall constructed at an already existing place of worship and started sitting there, police sources said. Ram lived in a single-storey pucca house with wife Darshana Devi.
The couple have two sons and two daughters. Both daughters are married now. His elder son is in the Navy and the younger one, Vishal Jangotra, was a first-year student of BSc (Agriculture) in Uttar Pradesh when he was arrested last year. While Ram has been sentenced to life imprisonment, Vishal has been acquitted.
Parvesh Kumar, 19
The 19-year-old is Sanji Ram’s neighbour. Third among the four children of Ashok Kumar and Trishla Devi, he had appeared in Class XI exams last year, but failed in Chemistry, said his younger sister, who now studies in Class XII.
Parvesh’s father works as a labourer in Mumbai. One of this brothers works as a salesman at a shop in Chadwal and the other is unemployed. The family lives in a single kutcha room. Neighbours say Ashok left a month ago for Mumbai to earn some money as he had fallen in debt while pursuing the case. Parvesh has also been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Deepak Khajuria, 25
Deepak was a Special Police Officer (SPO) posted at Hiranagar Police Station. His father Avdesh Khajuria retired as a police head constable about five months ago. He has three other siblings — one brother and two sisters.
His brother is in the Army and one of the sisters is married, said villagers. Deepak’s marriage was fixed in April 26 last year, but he got arrested before that. Deepak has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Surinder Kumar, 40
Kumar was posted at Hiranagar Police Station and had accompanied the parents of the victim to a forest to search for her. He is married and has two schoolgoing children. His brother is in the ITBP. Kumar has been sentenced to five years in jail for destroying evidence.
Tilak Raj, 45
He was posted at Hiranagar Police Station at the time of the crime. He is married and has two children, including a daughter, and he lives in the same neighbourhood as Khajuria. He has been sentenced to five years in jail for destroying evidence.
Anand Dutta, 35
He was posted at Hiranagar Police Station. Hailing from the border district of Poonch, he lived in Jammu. He has one child. He has been sentenced to five years in jail for destroying evidence. The eighth accused in the case is a juvenile and he is undergoing trial in Kathua.
