Five days after the incident, the complainant succumbed to his injuries on July 4, 2017. (Representational image)
The wife and son of a man, who was murdered in 2017, were held guilty in the case by the Additional District and Sessions Court of Chandigarh on Tuesday.
The victim’s wife Usha and son Vicky were held guilty of murdering the victim by setting him on fire. The judgement was pronounced by the Court of ADJ Dr Ajit Attri on Tuesday, while the quantum of sentence will be pronounced on February 24.
According to the police, the case dates back to June 29, 2017, when an FIR was registered at the insistance and statement of victim, Raj Kumar, who said that his wife Usha had poured some liquid on him and his son Vicky had tied him up and set him on fire.
Following the incident, Kumar had tried to exit from the rear door of the house to save himself, but the door was locked. Meanwhile the front door of the house was also set on fire. Kumar had told the police that he went to the washroom eventually and managed to save himself.
He had thus said that he was set on fire by his wife Usha and son Vicky, who intended to kill him.
However, five days after the incident, the complainant succumbed to his injuries on July 4, 2017.
Acting on the complaint and the statements of the victim, the police had registered an FIR under the Section 302 (Murder) and also arrested the accused persons. The accused were jailed at the Sector 31 police station in Chandigarh.
During the trails, the defense counsel had argued that the case registered on the complaint of Kumar was false and the complainant himself had made deliberate attempts to kill his family members by setting the house on fire.
The counsel had said that the complainant had procured the petrol from a petrol pump on the day of incident and then reached home, poured the petrol over his family members and himself, then ignited the fire. He had said that after igniting fire, the complainant locked himself in the bathroom to save himself, however, got burn injuries.
The defense also argued that there was no motive for the accused persons to commit the crime, whereas, the police had also conducted a tainted investigation and had made a neighbour as witness in the case and nor had it collected record from the fire brigade office, which had reached the spot to douse the fire.
After hearing the arguments and facts of the case, the Court held the accused guilty. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on February 24.