Mumbai: Even as the victim’s teenage daughter, the initial complainant turned hostile claiming that her mother was murdered by goons after they attempted to extort her, relying on the statements of other eye witnesses, a sessions court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced a 42-year-old vegetable vendor to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of his wife at their family-run stall at Malad in 2024 after suspecting her character. The victim Sapna and accused Shrawankumar Raut had three children. Relying on the statement of the shop owner, an eye witness, judge Nandkishor L More said, “…sole testimony of Geetadevi Singh is found consistent and corroborate her previous statements…coupled with medical evidence, circumstantial evidence in the form of spot panchnama under which incriminating material including the crime weapon seized by the police, support the case of that none other than the accused is the guilty of committing murder of his wife Sapna.” While the prosecution argued for maximum penalty, the judge held that the case did not meet the criteria for the “rarest of rare” category required for capital punishment. “The conduct of the accused, the nature of the crime, the nature of weapon used and all attending circumstances, the act of accused committing murder of wife Sapna cannot not fall in the category of rarest of rarest case and therefore, the accused cannot imposed the capital punishment.”In addition to the life sentence, Raut was ordered to pay a fine of Rs 3,000. Recognizing the financial instability of the family and the plight of the children, the judge declined to impose heavy compensation directly on the convict. Instead, the judge directed the District Legal Services Authority to decide the quantum of compensation to be awarded. On the morning of May 4, 2024, Sapna approached the shop owner, Geetadevi Singh, seeking intervention because Raut had been assaulting her and barring her from their home. When Singh attempted to mediate and suggested that Sapna be allowed to run the shop herself to support the children, Raut became “annoyed” and “arrogant.” In a sudden fit of rage, he took a vegetable-cutting knife and stabbed Sapna multiple times in the neck and shoulder.During the trial, public prosecutor RC Salve relied on the testimony of Singh, who witnessed the stabbing, and a neighbor, Yashwant Sharma, who rushed to the stall after hearing screams and physically apprehended Raut until police arrived. The judge noted that the blood found on the weapon and the shop floor matched the victim’s blood group, creating a clear link to the crime scene.
