Mumbai: Man gets 10 years for throwing acid on uncle, attacking him with axe over property dispute

MUMBAI: A 33-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for throwing acid on his now 55-year-old paternal uncle and attacking him with an axe over a property dispute in 2013. The accused, Sarbjitsingh Lakshotra alias Happy, was upset with his uncle, Rajindersingh Lakshotra’s control over the family’s assets, suspecting that he was not giving him a fair share in the rent received from various properties. Happy, son of one of the victim’s four brothers, feared that his uncle would eventually usurp the property.
Rajindersingh, a father of two, lost an eye in the incident.
Judge R M Sadrani sentenced Happy to seven years’ imprisonment under Indian Penal Code Section 307 for attempt to murder and 10 years’ imprisonment under 326A for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid. The minimum sentence under 326A is 10 years’ imprisonment.

Happy, a high school dropout, was in jail for nine months after his arrest on February 24, 2013. He has been out on bail since November 2013. Bombay high court, while granting bail, directed him not to enter the jurisdiction of Marol, Andheri (East) until disposal of the case.
The victim was among the 13 witnesses who deposed in court. In his statement to the police Rajindersingh said the family owned the building Uttam Niwas at Marol. He said while one brother had died and another lived in Belgium, his three brothers and he lived in the building. The ground-floor houses a restaurant Uttam Da Dhaba, and a couple of shops.
For the last 20 years, the restaurant was being run by three partners.
Rajindersingh handled the family’s business affairs and said that Rs 1.2 lakh received as monthly rent from the restaurant was divided into six shares. While five shares were taken by the five families, the rest was donated to Golden Temple.
The victim further told the police that his nephew was ill-tempered and always picked fights over money. He recalled on February 23, 2013, around 8pm when he was sitting in his office near the restaurant, Happy came along and flung acid on his face, injuring his eye.
Happy had sourced the acid, a bathroom cleaning material, from his house.
Rajindersingh said he then ran into the restaurant in a bid to save himself, but Happy followed and attacked him with an axe on his shoulder and back. He said he began to bleed profusely and fell to the ground. Happy then fled. Rajindersingh said restaurant staff took him to a hospital in an autorickshaw.
Other witnesses included the restaurant’s cashier, one of its partners and the victim’s wife. The cashier told the police that he had seen Happy chase after a bleeding victim with the axe. He recalled the victim screaming, “Bachao bachao (save me, save me)”, and Happy abusing him. The cashier further stated when he was rushing the victim to the hospital he could smell acid. He said Rajindersingh told him that he could not see because of the acid attack.
During investigations, police found that the accused had stolen the axe from a temple where he used to volunteer. Another volunteer told cops the axe used to prune trees had been missing from the temple.
Happy’s alleged statement given to the police was part of the chargesheet submitted in the case. The statement was not admissible as evidence. In that statement, Happy allegedly told cops his uncle controlled the money. The statement alleged that Happy had complained to civic authorities about some of the victim’s property dealings. It said on February 23, 2013, when Happy was returning from the BMC office after inquiring about his complaint, an argument took place between his uncle and him. Happy came back later that evening and attacked Rajindersingh. In court, Happy denied attacking his uncle.