PSO Mahipal (middle) allegedly shot the wife and son of the judge he was deployed to protect, on October 13 last year. (File)
A day after the Personal Security Officer (PSO) who opened fire on the wife and son of an Additional Sessions Judge in 2018 was convicted in the crime, a Gurgaon Court Friday sentenced him to death under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“The court has awarded him capital punishment in 302 IPC. In addition, under IPC 201 (disappearance of evidence of offence), he has been awarded 5 years rigorous imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine, and in addition to it, he has been sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine under Section 27 of the Arms Act,” Public Prosecutor Anurag Hooda said.
The accused, Mahipal, had been convicted by a Gurgaon court on Thursday, with the date regarding the Quantum of the sentence being fixed for today afternoon.
The incident occurred on October 13, 2018, at the busy Arcadia Market in Gurgaon’s Sector 49, in broad daylight. The PSO, who had been deployed with judge Kishan Kant Sharma, was accompanying his wife, Ritu, and 18-year-old son, Dhruv, to the market. When they finished their work and returned to the car, an argument ensued, following which he allegedly pulled out his service pistol and opened fire at both of them. While the judge’s wife succumbed to her injuries the same night, her son died in hospital 10 days later.
Videos of the incident which had surfaced, the PSO could be seen trying to haul Dhruv’s body into the car in which the family had arrived, before eventually giving up and fleeing in the vehicle. However, He was arrested nearly 2 hours after the crime from Gwal Pahari.
The chargesheet in the case was filed on December 26, 2018, and charges were framed on January 9, 2019 with the final hearing in the matter on February 3.
During the court hearing, the defense argued that the incident was a result of “accidental firing”, whereas, the prosecution relied on CCTV footage, the accounts of two eyewitnesses, and forensic evidence to prove that Mahipal “shot down two innocent people without any provocation”.