Death penalty to 1 for killing brother in Dhanbad

DHANBAD: The court of additional district and sessions judge (ADJ-10), Neeraj Kumar Vishwakarma, awarded death sentence to Santosh Kumar Mahto for killing his younger brother Prem Kumar Mahto over a property dispute in 2018.
According to the FIR lodged by Lakshmi Devi, the wife of the deceased, on April 6, 2018, Santosh came and attacked her husband with a sword in their house at Birajpur village killing him on the spot. Lakshmi also claimed that Santosh would put pressure on Prem over family assets division. Their mother Chinta Devi also got injured when she tried to save Prem. Lakshmi also accused their relatives — Motiram Mahto, Rina Devi and Agni Devi — of instigating Santosh.
When the police reached there, Santosh even tried to die by suicide by hanging self with a plastic rope, but the police snatched the rope and seized the blood soaked sword from the spot. A chargesheet against Santosh was filed on July 4, 2018.
After prolonged hearing, the court pronounced Santosh guilty of murder on February 23 and reserved the judgment on quantum of sentence for Tuesday.
In another case, the court of district and session judge Rajkumar Mishra awarded a life sentence and fine of Rs 10,000 each to five members of a family for killing a milkman two years ago.
Santosh Yadav, the elder brother of deceased milkman Vimal Yadav, in the FIR lodged with the Dhanbad police station on June 1, 2021 had alleged that Sudama Yadav, his son Rakesh Kumar Yadav, Rajesh Kumara Yadav, Vikash Kumar Yadav and Rupesh Kumar Yadav attacked his brother with an axe over a petty issue of dumping dung on the road.
He was immediately admitted to a local private hospital from where he was referred to Durgapur where he succumbed to his injuries. The axe used in the crime was also recovered by the police.
The court had held all five guilty in the case on February 25 and reserved the order for announcing the quantum of punishment for February 28.