Death penalty commuted to life in prison

Guwahati: A lower court here in Guwahati has commuted the death sentence it awarded to the prime accused in the 2017 Sweta Agarwal murder case to life imprisonment after it conducted a re-trial of the case following Gauhati high court’s order.
The convict, Govind Singhal, had murdered his classmate Sweta and set her body on fire to destroy evidence in 2017. Sweta was a state topper in her 12th grade in the commerce stream in 2015. At the time of the murder, she was a BCom 5th semester student in the city.
Her charred body was found in the bathroom of the rented house of Singhal at Bharalu in the city.
Later in 2019, the lower court gave Govind the death penalty and his mother Kamala Devi and sister Bhavani Singhal life in prison. However, Govind moved the high court challenging the lower court’s verdict.
The high court last year acquitted Kamala and Bhavani after finding lapses on the part of the investigating officer and also set aside the death penalty that was awarded to Govind and remitted back the case to the trial court for a re-trial.