Sasaram: A local court in Sasaram (Rohtas) on Wednesday sentenced five men to life imprisonment in an 11-year-old kidnapping and murder case and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on each of them.The judgement was delivered by District Judge-IV Anil Kumar. The convicts are Jitendra Ram of Konar village under Shivsagar police station, Shashi Kumar of Dumaria village under Sasaram Mufassil police station, Chhotu Khan and Jahangir Khan of Kaithi village under Shivsagar police station, and Sonu Ali of Sherganj in Sasaram.The case dates back to March 17, 2015, when Ravi Kumar, son of Samar Singh of Karan Sarai locality in Sasaram, left home around noon, telling his family he was going to watch a movie. At around 7.15 pm, Ravi called his father and informed him that he had been kidnapped.The kidnappers later allegedly contacted the family and demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh, threatening to kill Ravi if the money was not paid within three days. However, Ravi was allegedly murdered the following day.Additional Public Prosecutor Anil Kumar Singh said the prosecution examined 11 witnesses during the trial, including the investigating officer and the doctor who conducted the post-mortem. Based on the evidence, the court found all five accused guilty.The court sentenced the convicts to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each under Section 302 of the IPC. They were also awarded five years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 each under Section 363 for kidnapping, and another five years’ imprisonment under Section 201 for causing disappearance of evidence.In case of non-payment of fines, the convicts will have to undergo an additional six months’ imprisonment. All sentences will run concurrently.
