Lucknow: Bringing closure to a 23-year-old murder case, a special court on Wednesday sentenced three brothers to life imprisonment for the killing of a villager in the Jagdishpur area of Amethi district. Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Sultanpur, Rakesh Pandey, also imposed a fine of Rs 42,000 on the convicts. According to police, the trio, who had been in and out of jail since the murder, has not been given any bail since 2022.
The case dates back to Oct 6, 2002, when one Gopichandra Pasi (40), a resident of Madwa village under Jagdishpur police station, lodged an FIR alleging the murder of his brother, Hariprasad. According to the prosecution, Hariprasad was shot dead by Avdhesh Bahadur Singh and his sons Shesh Pratap Singh, Brijesh Pratap Singh, Ashok Pratap Singh and Shivphool Singh, all residents of the same village. The complainant stated that the accused persons’ cattle repeatedly entered Hariprasad’s maize field, causing damage to the crop. This issue led to several disputes in the past. On the day of the incident, Hariprasad went to confront the accused over the crop damage, during which a heated argument broke out. The altercation soon turned violent, and the accused allegedly opened fire, killing Hariprasad on the spot. Police registered a case and, after investigation, filed a chargesheet against all the accused. During the trial, the main accused, Avdhesh, and his son Ashok died, leading to the abatement of proceedings against them. The trial, however, continued against the remaining accused — Shesh, Brijesh and Shivphool. After completing the hearing on the point of sentence, the court found the three surviving accused guilty of murder and awarded them life imprisonment, along with a collective fine of Rs42,000, marking the end of a long-pending criminal trial that spanned more than two decades.
